Changing Tides
by Imfynis Ramond
Summary: Naruto had changed. Was it because of all the punishment he had taken at the hands of the village? Or because of the odd dreams he had been having of late? Regardless, this change is starting to affect him in more ways than one. Now he has to make a choice that could affect his entire life. What will he choose?
1. Chapter 1: Attempted Kidnapping

Cold. Wet. Frightened. Out of breath. Pain. Numb legs.

These were the experiences of one Naruto Uzumaki. It was once again the day he dreaded most out of the year: his birthday. The mob had started chasing him earlier than usual this year making the poor boy run for much longer than he was used to. That, and they had manned the walls and gates well, giving him no chance to escape like he did last year. Luckily, it had been raining all day, making the few inuzuka-nin that usually joined in the hunt irritated that they couldn't find his scent. Using every trick in his arsenal, the boy had barely dodged every attempt the mob had made to catch him. He knew what would happen if they did. He had seen the large cauldron of tar and crate of feathers in one corner of the village during his mad marathon of survival. But he was tiring and knew it was only a matter of time till one of the jounin in the mob sobered up and was able to find him. Running down some back alleys, over some fences, and through some of the more run down portions of the village, Naruto made his way to one of the side gates that wasn't normally frequented.

Distracting the guard was simple, all he had to do was make a shadow clone and have him get the guard to chase him. Once the guard was distracted, Naruto continued his mad dash out past training grounds and deep into the forest. After running for a good solid two hours, he finally came to his secret haven, a small run down shed deep in the forest. Making his way inside, he stripped himself of his wet clothes and collapsed on a makeshift cot inside made of a few planks of wood and old rough wool blankets. Naruto wanted nothing more than to pass out right then and forget everything, but years of being an insomniac due to fear of being beaten or raped in the middle of the night, fear of someone once again breaking into his apartment to torture him, fear of the villagers finally going that extra step and killing him kept him awake. He was fairly sure that no one would find him in the shed, but that didn't change his situation. He couldn't sleep.

So the boy lay there, utterly exhausted and alone, and let his mind wander. It was almost time for the academy to start up again. He had failed last year but was sure he could pass this time. Once he did, he would be one step closer to his dream: to become the strongest ninja the village had ever seen and become Hokage. Just so when he did he could turn and look at everyone that ever hurt them, that ever was disgusted by him, and thought that he was nothing more than a monster and see the looks on their faces.

Shivering from the cold, the boy wrapped himself tighter in the old blankets. The cold reminded him of an odd dream he had the night before. One of him as a full-fledged ninja on a team in a strange snow covered country fighting to save a princess. This wasn't the first of such dreams. The odd dreams had started about a month after failing the academy a few months back. Dreams that seemed real yet weren't. Dreams that seemed like that was how things should be, and others that were so alien he didn't know what to think about them. Dreams of places and things he didn't understand. Practically every night he had had one or more of these odd dreams. Dreams of him doing things differently, acting differently, being treated differently, growing up in a different village, in a different time, with parents, without, even dreams of him as a girl, or as a different person altogether. The dreams were never long, just long enough to have a glimmer of understanding as to what was happening in whatever location and situation the dream put him in. Naruto wasn't sure if these dreams were occurring because he only slept about an hour a night, if that, or if they were because he was finally going crazy due to all that he went through on a daily basis.

He didn't know, and frankly he didn't care.

It happened about three weeks after the dreams had started. He had been attempting to train in his use of the clone jutsu so that he could pass next year, but frustration of failing time and time again was wearing him down. So, in his frustration, he impulsively decided to try a technique that he had seen a different version of him use in a dream the night before. In anger, he quickly made the handsigns that the other him used, focused his chakra, and shouted the name of the name of the technique.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Chakra left his system, molded in front of him, began to take shape of that of another Naruto, and finally fell into itself and dissolved. Naruto was stunned. He thought the technique was just a figment of his imagination. Something his subconscious had formed in his dreams because clones were his worst jutsu, yet in the dream it was his best. He never thought it could be real. But here he tried it for the first time and got results. Sure he failed, but he knew that he could eventually make the technique work. He then thought of the other dreams he had had the last few weeks and if any of the techniques in them could be real as well.

It took him time and a lot of guesswork, but Naruto succeeded in learning the jutsu. Ever since then, he kept a journal of everything he deemed important from the few dreams he got each night. Justus to try, strategies to use, fighting styles to learn, and more.

Much more.

As time progressed, Naruto quickly saw patterns and similarities in the dreams he was having. Things that, though may have been slightly different each time, were the same at the core. Deciding to test if some of the things he saw was true, one night Naruto meditated for hours. Trying as hard as he could to enter his subconscious. Once he finally did, all his fears were confirmed...

**"Remembering how we first met?"** The Kyuubi suddenly spoke, bemused.

_'Shut up. I don't want to talk to you today.'_ Naruto inwardly responded icily.

**"Ooooooooh, so cold. And here I thought you'd enjoy a little company. After all, it's your birthday."** The Kyuubi responded, amused.

_'As if I'd want to talk to YOU of all people. It's because of YOU that my birthday is hell for me.'_ Naruto shot back angrily.

**"Mmmm... True. But I could just as easily give you the power to make this day hell for all that torment you. All you have to do is let me out of this cage."** The Kyuubi tempted.

_'Yeah, you'd give me the power to do just as you said. But in the process I'd lose my sanity and mind. I don't feel snapping today so I only have three words for you: Leave. Me. Alone.'_ Naruto responded angrily.

**"Oh, don't be like that ****_Naruto-kun_****. After how helpful I've been to you telling you about your ****_parents_****. Not to mention how much I slowed down my flow of chakra into you. I don't think I deserve the cold shoulder."** The Kyuubi responded in a sickeningly sweet tone.

_'You only told me about my parents to try to get me to fly into a rage so you could take control.'_ Naruto responded bitterly. He almost had. Luckily, he had been with Ikura at the time who had been able to calm the boy down.

_'And you restricted your flow of chakra because you said you hated how your poisoned chakra was hindering my ability to retain long term memory, making me stupid, and thus, a weak container. And that I promised to remodel my mindscape for you_. _So I owe you nothing. Now leave me alone and LET ME SLEEP!' _Naruto inwardly yelled.

The Kyuubi let off a short melodic yet evil laugh before responding, **"Fine, kit. ****_Sweet dreams_****..." **The Kyuubi said before she laughed once more, fading from his mind as she crept back into her cage...

_'Finally.'_ Naruto thought exhaustedly before returning to his musing.

It amazed him how he could change so much in just a couple of months. Between actually being able to learn, seeing what he saw in his dreams, and finding out about his parents he had drastically changed. He was still kicking himself for wearing that horrid jumpsuit for as long as he did. It was no surprise that the mob was able to find him so easily the last few years. That had changed though, Naruto thought as he glanced at the wet clothes on the floor. Now his regular garb included a long sleeve dark green shirt, dark tan cargo pants, and black ninja sandals. And in one of his cargo pockets was, of course, his trusty goggles. He may have had idiotic reasons for getting them in the first place, but they came in handy. Naruto changed his clothes for the simple reason that the dang jumpsuit stood out way too much. To be a ninja was to be unseen, and since Naruto actually gained some mental capacity, he had tried his hardest to do just that. Since the wardrobe change he had been able to blend in easier, avoiding more beatings and the like.

His dreams had also changed him. Seeing so many different perspectives he could take in life had altered his personality. He was still hyperactive and childish at times, but now he also knew there was a time to be reserved. He could still smile and laugh, still have fun and love others, but he know also knew pain and sorrow, the feelings of hate and betrayal. Suffice it to say, Naruto had matured a lot in the last few months.

Then there was the situation with his parents.

He still was unsure exactly how he felt about being the son of the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. The man had been his idol for quite some time. He, once, had been what he wanted to be one day. Now there was this slow creeping hate for him. He didn't want to hate his own father, someone who only wanted him to be seen as a hero for having the Kyuubi sealed within him. But when the village completely disregarded his father's wishes and turned his life into a hell that he desperately wanted to escape, it was hard not to. It was a battle he was slowly losing every day within himself.

And he wasn't even sure he wanted to win.

On the other hand, Naruto really wished he could have met his mother, Kushina Uzumaki. She had to endured much of the same ridicule as he had, and she had made it through in one piece. She had become a respectful ninja of the village, found a man that she had loved, and had tried to start a family.

_'I guess your luck was about as bad as mine, mom.'_ Naruto thought to himself idly before finally feeling the sweet embrace of sleep take him...

(Three Months Later)

The sun was rising, the air still holding it's slight crispness from the night before, and the people of the village hidden in the leaves were beginning their day. The same held true for Naruto who, after not being able to sleep at all the night before due to nightmares, forced himself to head to the academy in a rather grumpy mood. It was once again the first day of classes, though this didn't cause any excitement to the boy. He had already had several first days of school after all his previous failures.

Grinning for a brief moment, Naruto knew this year he would pass without a problem. He had learned from one of his dreams, and thanks to experimentation, confirmed that he retained his experience and memories from his shadow clones. With that knowledge, and vastly improved long term memory, Naruto had spent a lot of time in the library studying. He found out that the reason he couldn't do the regular clone technique was due to the fact of his almost non-existent chakra control due to his previous state's stupidity and exceptionally large chakra reserves. After discovering this, Naruto spend nearly all his extra time training his chakra control through various techniques he learned from scouring the library. He had so little control in his life- no control over where he lived, when the mobs would attack, when he could visit the Hokage- that anything he could control he tried to do so to the absolute best of his ability. So everyday he made as many shadow clones as he could and trained his chakra control. He still trained in other aspects but focused mainly on controlling his ocean of chakra. And though the Kyuubi never admitted it, she was somewhat impressed with the young boy. His control went from practically nothing to that of a strong chunin, borderline jounin in proportion to the amount of chakra he had in just three months.

Naruto had also been attempting to recreate various techniques he had seen in his dreams, but so far had next to no success. He figured it was due to absolutely abysmal chakra control. Debating on which technique he would attempt to recreate from his dreams after school that day, Naruto found himself walking into the classroom of the advanced class. As he headed for his seat towards the back right side of the class, he looked at the few other people that had arrived early like him. Most he recognized slightly due to seeing them last year in the class below him. None of them seemed to stand out though. Shrugging to himself, he sat down and, taking a leaf out of his pocket, stuck it to his forehead. Figuring that if he had to wait he might as well train too instead of making the hundreds of shadow clones he had made earlier and sent off into the forest do all the work. He couldn't care less that it made him look like an idiot.

As he sat there, focusing as hard as he could to use as little chakra as was needed to keep the leaf where it was, he watched more and more students trickle in. Most were just from civilian families and weren't all that notable but a few caught Naruto's eye. There were several clan heirs in this class. The thought of not really realizing this sooner made Naruto shake his head in disbelief at how freakin stupid he had been, which almost made the leaf fall off. Much to Naruto's happiness, however, he was able to keep it stuck to his forehead. As he refocused on keeping the leaf where it was, he suddenly heard a lot of squealing. Turning, he saw that none other than Sasuke Uchiha had walked in, causing practically every girl in the room to go nuts. Two in particular, Naruto was pretty sure one was the heiress to the Yamanaka clan and the other a civilian's daughter dressed in pink, fought viciously for the only seat next to Sasuke. Naruto rolled his eyes and in doing so he noticed that the only girl in the room that didn't go crazy over Sasuke's entrance was one sitting in the back on the left side. He stared at her a moment. Something about her felt familiar... Before long, he bopped his open left hand with his right. That was Hinata Hyuuga, heiress to her clan. Naruto just guessed she wasn't into emo's, shrugged, and then went back to waiting for class to start.

After all the students were in their seats and talking amongst themselves, Ikura walked in. "Alright, settle down class. It's time we got started..." Iruka began to say. But when he noticed that no one was listening, he cleared his throat then very loudly shouted, "SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET RIGHT THIS INSTANT OR I'LL HAVE YOU ALL DOING EXTRA HOMEWORK FOR THE NEXT THREE MONTHS!" All while utilizing the infamous Big Head Jutsu. It worked like a charm, getting the entire class to shut up instantly. Naruto merely smirked at the show, having seen it so often before.

"I'd like to welcome you all back to your final year in the academy. Work hard so that you may become proud shinobi of Konoha! We'll start with introductions first, then I'll go into your projected schedule for the year and..." Iruka started off.

Naruto, however, quickly zoned him out having heard it all before. Looking out the window, he saw rain clouds in the distance. At first he frowned at the thought of training in the rain but shortly after smiled. This would give him a chance to try out some of the water jutsu he had seen in his dreams. He knew he wouldn't have much of a chance pulling any of them off due to him not even touching any sort of elemental training but the thought was just too enticing not to try. Hoping the rainclouds wouldn't leave before school got out, Naruto pulled out his small journal and began trying to figure out which moves he wanted to try first and which ones he might have a small chance in actually performing.

As he was contemplating just how to go about the first jutsu he had decided on, Iruka got to his name.

"Alright, Naruto. Introduce yourself and list a few likes, dislikes, and dreams." Iruka said, but soon saw that he was being completely ignored as Naruto just stared out the window. "Naruto! It's your turn!" Still no response. A vein beginning to show on Iruka's head in anger, he quickly grabbed a piece of chalk and threw it at high speeds straight at Naruto's head. It connected with a loud snap as it broke into several pieces against the suddenly very alert boy. The sudden start and headache caused Naruto to lose concentration and drop his leaf.

"What the heck, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto suddenly yelled back, holding the side of his head and glaring.

"You were the one that started daydreaming and wouldn't pay attention. You should know better to do that by now. It's your turn. Introduce yourself." Iruka said, still annoyed with the boy.

Naruto huffed, "Fine. Whatever. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen and learning new things," This caused Iruka's eyebrow to raise slightly at the new addition from last year, "I dislike the time it takes ramen to cook. As for my goal... that one's easy, I'm going to be HOKAGE ONE DAY!" The boy finished loudly, ending up standing on his desk while pumping a fist in the air.

This only caused the kids in class that knew of him and his constant failure to laugh at him.

"You? Really? Hahahahaha! This guy is too much!" One random civilian born kid asked while laughing.

"How many times have you failed again? You sure you shouldn't aim your goal a little lower? Hahahahahaha!" A kid with glasses suggested.

Several others put in their own input, laughing the entire time. This was quickly cut short, however, when Iruka had had enough. "QUIET DOWN!" He roared before turning a worried glance to Naruto. He was shocked when Naruto looked him right in the eye, shrugged like it was no big deal, then picked the leaf he had been using earlier back up and placing it back on his forehead. To say the least Iruka was shocked. He had expected Naruto to start defending his claim to hide his sadness, not shrug it off like it was nothing. He was going to need to talk to Naruto after class. Iruka recovered quickly continued with what he had planned for the day.

The day went by slowly as the sleep deprived Naruto sat there training with his leaf. Too slowly in his opinion. He was anxious to try out the water jutsu he had seen. After what seemed like forever, the day finally came to a close. Stretching in his seat, Naruto stood up to leave as Iruka dismissed the class. However, Iruka stopped him before he could speed off.

"Naruto, I need to speak you. Please stay behind." He said as the other kids filed out.

"Ahhhh! Do I have to? I wanted to go train!" Naruto whined as he walked up to Iruka, the classroom almost completely empty.

Iruka waited till the last of his students left till he responded. Deciding to cut right to the chase, he quickly asked. "Naruto, I can tell something's changed about you. What happened? Are you ok?" Genuine concern in his voice.

Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he answered, "Heh, you noticed that did you? Everything's fine Iruka-sensei, I guess I just grew up a bit over the break." He finished with a smile.

"Is that so? Tell me something, have you been training by keeping that leaf on your forehead all throughout class today?" Iruka asked.

"You noticed that too huh?" Naruto said with a light laugh, leaf _still_ on his forehead, "Yeah I have. I read in a book at the library that people with large chakra reserves normally have really poor control even if they train it. I realized that that was the reason why I couldn't create a clone all this time so I decided to train my butt off till I could! I'm definitely going to pass this year! Believe it!" Naruto finished with enthusiasm. He may not show it as much anymore cause he realized it made him stand out more, but he was more than comfortable enough around Iruka-sensei at this point that he showed it without worry.

Iruka, suffice it to say, was stunned. Naruto in a library? Naruto _learning_ something in a library? And about something as complex as chakra control? He wordlessly tried to dispel a genjutsu just to make sure this was real. When nothing happened, he realized that Naruto certainly had changed, and apparently for the better. "That's great Naruto! To celebrate, how about I treat you to some ramen?" Iruka said, happy as could be that Naruto was finally succeeding, and on his own at that.

"Really!? You mean it!?" Naruto asked excitedly. At Iruka's nod, he leapt up in the air. "YAHOO! I'M GUNNA EAT RAMEN TONIGHT!" He yelled before calming down a little, a look of remembrance on his face. "You mind if we meet up later, sensei? I wanted to go to the library to read some more then train some, too! Can we go after?" He asked, almost pleading so not to miss out on ramen.

Iruka once again was stunned, even more so than last time. Naruto was putting off ramen to train and, of all things, _study_!? He really had changed. Iruka shook his head in amazement, "Sure thing Naruto, what time do you think you'll be done?"

Naruto crossed his arms and though about it for a moment. "Hmm... how does 8:30 sound to you, Iruka-sensei?"

"Sounds good to me. Just promise me you won't over train, ok? I'm sure keeping that leaf on your forehead all day wasn't easy. I don't want you collapsing from chakra exhaustion." Iruka said

"I promise!" Naruto said with a smile, "Alright, later Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said as he left the room.

Naruto left the academy in much higher spirits than he had entered in. Weariness from lack of sleep forgotten, Naruto was about to start heading for the library when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Or more specifically, someone.

Hinata Hyuga stood next to the gate of the academy, looking around frantically. The girl looking more and more distraught as time went on. The sight made Naruto curious. Shrugging, he made three shadow clones. "Go study up at the library guys, I'm going to check something out."

"Sure thing boss."

"You got it."

"Will do."

The three clones replied before henging into three completely average looking kids and heading off. Naruto looked back to the distraught Hyuga to find her continuing to look around in every direction, every so often checking the sun to see what time it was, though failing due to the cloud ridden sky. _'Weird. What is up with her?' _Naruto pondered as he debated on just going over to talk to her or watching for a while longer. His answer, however, was made for him when, after a few more minutes of looking around frantically, the girl quickly ran off. Checking the position of the clouds to when they would start their downpour, Naruto decided he had more than enough time and decided to follow her.

Henging himself to look like a cat, the young ninja leapt rooftop to rooftop and quickly spotted the girl running through the village. As he followed her, he wondered why she looked so frightened. Was traveling through the village alone in the middle of the afternoon really that scary? It's not like _she _was the container of the nine tailed fox like he was. It wasn't long before Naruto was able to figure out that she was headed to the clan compound. Why the fear then? Was she going to get in trouble if she didn't get home in time? Shaking his head in disinterest, Naruto decided it would be a waste of time to continue to follow the girl. Changing direction, the cat headed for one of the lesser used training grounds. As he did he looked at the exceedingly dark clouds lightly rumbling overhead. Anyone could tell that they would burst anytime now. He figured he would have just enough time to get out to the training grounds before they did. However something stopped him right in his tracks.

The sound of a girl screaming.

It was only for a split second because it was almost immediately muffled out. The fact that it came from right where he had been not seconds before instantly told Naruto who had made the noise. Dropping his henge to move more naturally, Naruto moved as quickly as he could towards where he figured the girl was in danger. Coming to a well secluded back alley, he saw Hinata being dragged by two men farther into the alleyway while simultaneously being tied up. The girl was struggling as best she could but was quickly subdued when one of the men punched her hard in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. Naruto cursed, where was the village's ANBU when you needed them? Or the girl's guard for that matter? Wasn't she the heiress? Shaking his head to focus on the task at hand, he formed five shadow clones.

"Three of you circle around and pincer them. Don't let them escape no matter what!" Then pointing to the nearest one to him, he said, "You go get help," Then to the last one, "You're with me. Let's go!"

All five clones nodded and the three headed off to stop the kidnappers while the single one went to go get help. Naruto and his clone then quickly charged the two men who had just made it around the corner of the alley and out of sight. Quickly rounding the corner, Naruto shouted to slow them down, "Hey! Stop right there!"

The two men were in the middle of finishing tying the girl up when Naruto did so. They both shot their heads up at the noise. "What! I thought you said no one was around, Ryu!" One of the men, who was about six foot, had black greasy hair and wore all dark clothing and a trench coat, said to the other.

"No one was a second ago, Kenchi!" Ryu replied hastily. He was about five foot two, had a completely bald head, and was wearing an outfit similar to his companion.

Whipping out a kunai, Naruto threatened, "Let her go or you'll regret it!" It was then that he noticed both men wore their forehead protectors as belts, protectors with the symbol for Kumo ninja crossed out.

"Let's kill these brats quickly and get this job over with." Kenchi said menacingly while he pulled out a cleaver from inside his trench coat.

"Agreed." Ryu said, who unceremoniously dropped the tied up Hinata and pulled out two nasty looking daggers.

Naruto wasn't liking his odds. Not only was he facing ninja from a different country, but missing-nin at that, _and_ ones that were good enough to infiltrate the village and attempt to kidnap the hyuuga's heiress in broad daylight. Well, not exactly daylight considering it was at that moment the clouds above had decided to unleash their barely held contents. As it began to pour, the two men charged Naruto and his clone. Hoping his other clones would get there soon, Naruto charged back, blocking a downward chop from Kenchi's cleaver with his kunai. _'KAMI this guy is strong!' _Naruto inwardly exclaimed as he pumped some of his chakra through is body to hold the cleaver back. Kenchi just responded to the increase in strength to more strength of his own. As Naruto was slowly pushed down to one knee he saw out of the corner of his eye that his clone was in a similar predicament, doing his best to fend off Ryu's daggers with two kunai. Naruto felt Kenchi put even more strength against his cleaver. He knew he was about to be overpowered when he heard a pop to his left.

"What? A damn clone! Arg!" He heard Ryu yell.

Just as he did though, Kenchi suddenly yelled in pain letting up his assault on Naruto to step back and turn around to see one of the clones grinning with a bloody kunai in hand. Naruto didn't waste this chance as he charged forward and cut deeply on the back of the man's leg, right at the knee joint. Howling in pain, Kenchi clutched the wound as best as he could as he fell to the ground. The clone, seeing the opening, charged forward and embedded his kunai right into the man's right eye socket deeply, killing him. The clone and Naruto turned to see that one of the other clones that had been distracting Ryu pop from taking a hit. Naruto then broke out with a large smile, already feeling victorious from the information he just got from the clone that had died. While the real Naruto was distracted by the influx of memory, the clone that had killed Kenchi charged forward, only to be taken out in two swift movements.

"It seems you aren't to be taken lightly. I'll end this now." Ryu said, uncaring his partner had died and now deadly serious.

As he spoke his daggers began to crack and spark as he channeled lightning chakra through them. In one swift movement, he came at Naruto, thrusting one of his daggers straight at his face faster than he could evade. Naruto, reacting on pure instinct, threw up his left arm to shield the deadly blow. The dagger went straight through his arm like a hot knife through butter, splitting his bone in two. Stopping at the hilt, the blade stopped barely an inch away from his face. Finally, the lightning channeled through the blade sent a nasty shock all throughout his body, the shock was also enhanced due to him being soaked.

"AAAAAHHH!" Naruto cried in pain as he dropped to his knees but managed to keep the blade from his face. Ryu, however, merely went to stab him with his other dagger. But then suddenly froze stock still. Before Naruto could react, a woman suddenly came out of nowhere and punched the missing-nin, at the same time placing a tag with a seal on his chest. This caused him to pass out unceremoniously. As Naruto regained feeling throughout his body and held his pierced arm, he got a better look at the woman who had come to his rescue. She stood about five foot six, had black, shoulder length, untamed hair, and red eyes. She wore a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Over this she had on very broad material which resembled bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages.

"Boss are you ok!?" The clone that had gone to get help asked worriedly as he ran over to Naruto who was numb all over but also had a searing pain throughout his entire body.

Grunting as his clone helped him lean against the side of the closest wall, he ripped out the dagger and then responded, "Y-yeah. I'll be fine. No worries." He got out through gritted teeth, idly noticing that it had stopped raining.

"You ok, kid?" The woman asked as she hurried over to him after quickly tying up Ryu and immediately began inspecting Naruto's arm, causing him to freeze up, despite her words of concern fearing it was just a trick.

"Relax, boss. She's Hinata's escort!" The clone explained, when he did Naruto relaxed, but only ever so slightly. "I'm going to let the other one know the battle's over, boss. You ok with that?" He asked. After Naruto nodded, he dispelled.

As he did, he got the memories of the clone heading as quick as he could back to the academy, fully intent on getting Iruka to help but instead running into the woman who had rescued him. When she forced him to stop his mad dash, asking if he knew where Hinata was, he quickly lead her here, explaining that he and Hinata were in danger, him only being a clone sent to get help and explaining why he was in the middle of a kidnapping in the first place.

"We need to get you to a hospital soon." The woman said with authority as she unwrapped her left arm and used the wrappings to cover his wound, deciding to find out how the kid knew a forbidden jutsu when he wasn't even a shinobi yet till another time, "But first I want to know where Hinata is. You're clone said both you and her were in danger."

"One of my other clones took her away from the battle," Naruto explained, quick healing allowing him to think straight with a clear head, the pain from the electrocution almost gone, "But since that one just dispelled he should be headed back with her."

The woman hid her shock. An academy student that could make not one, but two shadow clones? Instead of voicing her thoughts she nodded, "Good," Then smiled," I really have to thank you for what you did. It was really brave and I'm sure you saved Hinata's life." Then she had a look like she just remembered something, "I'm Kurenai Yuhei, Hinata's escort." She said holding out her hand.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said with a grin and shook her hand. _'The Kyuubi kid...' _Kurenai inwardly thought.

It was then that his clone jumped down into the alleyway, carrying an unconscious, now untied, Hinata bridal style. When he did, Kurenai rushed over to him, "Hinata!"

"It's ok, she just passed out from the shock of what happened. She isn't hurt." The clone informed as he passed over Hinata to Kurenai then went over to Naruto to help him to his feet.

Kurenai sighed in relief when she had finished checking that what the clone had said was indeed true. Still holding Hinata, she turned around to face Naruto, "I need you to tell me everything that happened from the beginning. But first we need to take care of this mess and get you to the hospital."

Naruto grimaced at the thought of going to the hospital, having been there so many times in the past. But he also knew that it would take a while for his arm to repair, even with his accelerated healing. Nodding, Naruto finally found his feet, so he dispelled the last shadow clone. Not a moment too soon, because just after he did so several ANBU leapt into the alleyway.

_'Bout damn time...' _Naruto inwardly grumbled as one of the ANBU operatives wearing a bear face mask spoke, "Kurenai-san, what happened."

"Attempted kidnapping. Luckily I was able to stop it, thanks to Naruto slowing down their escape. He needs medical attention immediately. Other than that, everyone is fine. After I get Hinata to the safety of her home I'll give a full report to the Hokage, Bear-san." Kurenai responded.

As she did, Naruto inwardly started freaking out. _'How am I supposed to explain being able to use Shadow Clones? If I tell them I learned them from my dreams they'll think I'm crazy and lock me up! Oh man what do I do!?_

Bear nodded, "I'll make sure Naruto gets treated and meet up with you there for debrief."

Kurenai nodded back and replied, "See you then." Before she jumped off, heading for the compound.

"I leave the rest to you." Bear said to the other ANBU there before grabbing Naruto and Shushining to the hospital.

Naruto was glad that Bear had volunteered to take him to the hospital. Out of practically all the other ANBU, Bear was one of the ones that actually helped the kid whenever he was assigned to watch over the boy unlike the others that would just leave the kid to his own devices or help mobs find him. After getting his arm healed by one of the medic ninja on duty, Naruto and Bear headed for the Hokage's tower. The whole time, Naruto began to get more and more nervous, unsure how to get out of this situation. By the time they got to the outside of the Hokage's door, Naruto was so nervous he was in a light sweat. Bear opened the door and the two of them went inside to find that Kurenai was already there, waiting for them.

As Naruto shut the door behind him, the Hokage began, "Now that we're all finally here, you can tell me why I have two Kumo missing-nin currently being interrogated." The Hokage said while looking at Kurenai, idly noticing Naruto's wardrobe change.

"Of course, Hokage-sama, I'll start at the beginning. This afternoon I was headed to pick up Hinata from the academy and take her back home, as usual, when I was stopped by a man looking for his missing daughter. I didn't know it at the time, but the man was under a Genjutsu, I assume it was from one of the two that tried to kidnap Hinata. I decided to help the man, thinking that being a little late wouldn't hurt. What I didn't know was that when the man shook my hand in gratitude when I agreed to help, a genjutsu was put on me as well. Luckily, I was able to recognize what was happening early enough to break free and look for Hinata. It was then that I heard the girl scream momentarily when they initially took her. I headed towards the source of the sound as fast as I could. There I found Naruto fighting off the two shinobi as best as he could. I had to kill one of them to prevent him from taking out Naruto and was able to incapacitate the other with a genjutsu. I think you know the rest Hokage-sama." Kurenai finished.

The Hokage merely nodded and looked at Naruto, "And how did you end up fighting the two shinobi?"

Naruto, however, was in a state of shock. _'Did, did she just lie? She just lied. For me. What the heck!?' _Luckily, Naruto was able to recover enough to respond when the question was directed at him, "W-well, I had stayed back after school to talk to Iruka-sensei. When I left, I noticed two guys following one of my classmates. I got curious and followed, only to see them kidnap the girl. I didn't think anyone would believe me if I tried to go get help, so I tried to stop them on my own. That's when Kurenai-san showed up and saved both of us." Naruto quickly lied, years of having to live dealing with the worst the village could throw at him coming in handy.

Sarutobi nodded, "Very well." He said, writing something down on a piece of paper before replying, "And well done, Naruto. If it wasn't for your bravery, Kurenai may not have gotten there in time. You saved your classmates life."

"Hehehehe, gee it really isn't that big of a deal." Naruto replied while scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed manner to hide him freaking out about Kurenai lying for him.

"I believe that's all I need. Thank you both once more. Bear, could you please escort Naruto back home?" The Hokage asked but before Bear could respond, Kurenai spoke up.

"That's ok, Hokage-sama. I can take Naruto home. I've got to run an errand in that direction anyway."

"Very well," Sarutobi said while nodding, "Dismissed."

Naruto got increasingly more wary and nervous as Kurenai lead him out of the Hokage's tower and down the street. The two walked in silence for a while before Kurenai suddenly stretched, "Man, I'm glad I was able to pull that off. For a moment there, I thought he would see through my lie. You didn't do half bad either, spilling that B.S. like that without a second thought. Good job."

Naruto had jumped slightly when Kurenai spoke, ready to bolt if he needed to, but was soon surprised by what she said, openly admitting to lying to the Hokage. After listening to her, he carefully responded in a whisper, "Why did you lie for me?"

"Why? Hmmmm... good question..." Kurenai said while propping her right arm up with her left and grabbing her chin in a contemplative manner, "I guess I thought I owed you one. You saved Hinata after all. She's like a little sister to me. But don't think you're going to get away without explaining how you can perform that Jutsu. If I don't like the story you tell me, I'll march you straight back to the Hokage's office and admit to everything." Kurenai said, causing Naruto to freeze up once more in fear.

He wasn't sure how he could explain how he knew the Shadow Clone Jutsu but he also didn't want to get in trouble with the Hokage, one of the only people he cared about. Naruto's musing were cut short, however, when Kurenai spoke again, "But first things first. I'm starving! Time to find some food. Anything in particular you in the mood for?" She asked, looking at the tense Naruto.

_'Well I was supposed to meet Iruka there soon anyway... maybe I can use him as a distraction.' _Naruto thought before replying, "Ramen sound good?"

"Ramen?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah, ramen! I just so happen to know where they make the best ramen on earth. Is that ok with you?" Naruto asked back, still unsure around the red eyed jounin.

Kurenai laughed lightly before answering, "Sure, why not? I haven't had ramen in a while. Lead the way."

Nodding, Naruto did just that. It was odd, against all his logic to not trust the woman, her easygoing attitude had a calming effect on the blonde. By the time they had made it to Ichurakus, he was much more relaxed, though still inwardly wary of her. Walking into the stand, the two were greeted by Ayame, "Hey Naruto!"

"Hey, Ayame-nee-san!" Naruto responded. "Where's the old man?"

"Dad had to run out to grab a few things. Who's your friend?" Ayame asked.

"This is Kurenai-san. I just met her today, she's one of my classmates escorts." Naruto said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ayame." She said to Kurenai.

"A pleasure to meet you." Kurenai said with a smile.

"What will the two of you be having?"

"Beef ramen please!" Naruto replied without hesitation. Impending interrogation or not, he was going to enjoy his ramen. Taking a moment to look over the menu, Kurenai ordered, "I think I'll try the extra spicy shrimp ramen."

"Coming right up!" Ayame said as she went to work.

"Alright, Naruto. I think you have some explaining to do." Kurenai said, now completely serious. "How did you learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

Naruto began to sweat lightly. He had only come up with two options while they had traveled to the Ramen stand, neither that he liked. But Kurenai had saved his butt from the Hokage, so she deserved at least some sort of explanation. Not wanting to tell the truth, be seen as crazy, and be locked up the rest of his life, Naruto went with option two, though it was just as, if not more, risky. _'Time for you to take some flak for me, Kyuubi.' _Naruto inwardly thought, though mostly to himself, then braced himself. "Well Kurenai-san... to tell you the truth, the Kyuubi taught me."

"What?" Kurenai responded, to say the least, she was stunned. Out of all the things to come out of the boy's mouth, that wasn't something she thought would. The kid _knew _he was the container of the Nine Tailed Fox? And not only that, but he had been in contact with it _and _was learning ninjutsu from it? Kurenai didn't know what to say, so ended up saying the first thing that came to mind, "You know you're the..."

"The Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi? Yeah, I figured that out a while ago." Naruto said quietly so Ayame wouldn't hear.

Still in shock, Kurenai intelligently replied, "How?"

"It happened shortly after I failed the last exam." That much was true, "A mob caught me and was beating me. They tormented me and kept throwing insults at me, calling me worthless. They just kept going and going, never seeming to stop. I just, just got so angry. I unconsciously tapped into the fuzzbutt's chakra." That was a lie, "I was able to survive and escape thanks to that. The Kyuubi made contact with me a few days after the encounter. That's how it happened." That last part was also a lie, but with that first bit of truth in there and the shock she was experiencing she hopefully wouldn't be able to notice. At least, Naruto hoped she wouldn't.

Kurenai took a moment to process this information. The kid, who was supposed to be protected from finding out he was a jinchuriki via the Thirds law, found out inadvertently because a mob attacked him. She had heard about how bad the kid had had it, but shrugged most of it off as exaggeration, never seeing the incidents take place with her own eyes. But for Naruto to be put through one that he felt threatened enough and angry enough to draw upon the beasts power, it must had been bad. Kurenai unconsciously clenched her fists, the heat of anger growing from within. She had always had a soft spot for kids, that's why she became a Jounin instructor in the first place, due to her being picked on when she was little because of her red eyes. She wondered about the other stories concerning Naruto being true. The thought that they could have even been half true mad her angry all the more. Not anymore. Not if she had anything to say about it.

"K-Kurenai-san?" Naruto nervously whispered.

The sound brought her out of her inner musing. Looking at Naruto, she realized her rage must have been written all over her face seeing how scared the boy looked and how he was on the edge of his stool, ready to run at any moment. "Sorry," She said as calm and soothing as she could, "I just dislike those that pick on others that are different. I'm sure you've had a hard life because of people just like that." She said sadly.

Naruto relaxed as she did, breathing a slight sigh of relief, "Yeah..." He said quietly.

It was then that Ayame had finished their order, "Here you two go! One Beef and one Extra Spicy Shrimp Ramen!" She said cheerfully.

As she did, Naruto instantly perked up, "Come to pappa!" He said eagerly and began tearing into the dish. Kurenai smiled at his enthusiasm before starting on hers. After a short time of the two of them eating their food, Kurenai spoke, "So, Naruto." This instantly got his attention, he didn't stop eating, but it was noticeable how much slower he was at the task now, "What are we going to do about this?"

Naruto paused, slurped up the noodles in his mouth and then set his chopsticks down, "Can we... just not tell anyone?" At this Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "I mean, if we did, then the old man wouldn't have a reason to keep the law that says no one can talk about the fox. I think that... I fear that the mobs will get worse if people knew that I knew. Especially if they knew I was ok with it." This made Kurenai raise both eyebrows in shock. She looked like she was about to speak when Naruto cut her off, "I know what you're thinking. How could anyone be ok with having a being of pure rage and malice sealed inside of them? I mean, no one would willingly want that, but I understand why it had to be done. Why the Fourth had to seal it in me. And when I look at it that way, I'm ok with it. _'For now, at least...' _"But, I just feel it would be better if no one knew. Can't we just leave the way things are?" Naruto finished, looking up at Kurenai with pleading eyes.

Kurenai almost couldn't hold herself back from enveloping the boy in a hug and telling him everything would be ok. The idea that had been forming in her head since her small flare of rage earlier solidified. She would help this kid. She refused to do anything less. She smiled ever so slightly before speaking, "I think I can agree to that, on a few conditions."

Naruto instantly brightened when she answered only to frown in suspicion at her mention of conditions. "What are they?" He asked wearily.

"I can't have you running around learning whatever techniques the Kyuubi sees fit to teach you without someone to watch over you to make sure you don't hurt yourself. So my first condition is that you train under me." This made Naruto's eyes widen in shock. She was going to train him? He wasn't even a full-fledged ninja yet either! "If I'm going to be your sensei, that means that you'll have to do as I say when it pertains to training. And as of right now, I don't want you using any techniques unless I say you're allowed to use them. So no more Shadow Clones till I'm satisfied that you won't make more than you are able and kill yourself." This made Naruto frown. "Second, I want you to fill me in as much as you can about your contact with the Kyuubi. What it tries to do, what it tells you, what it teaches you, whenever you use it's chakra, everything. Understand?" Naruto nodded, not sure he'd be able to lie his way out of that condition. "Thirdly, if I decide that we ever need to bring all of this to the Hokage for any reason, you go without a fuss. And, if I think we need more people in on our little secret, I can and will do so. Sound like a deal?"

Naruto stared at his mostly eaten bowl of ramen and thought about his options. If he said no she'd probably just haul his butt straight back to the old man. But if he said yes, he'd get a sensei to train him to be an actual shinobi, something he desperately wanted. She may restrict him in the beginning, but it would be worth it in the long run. That, and he'd finally have someone to talk to about the Kyuubi. That sealed the deal for him, he smiled, a true smile, "When do we start, Kurenai-sensei?"

She smiled right back, it felt good making the kid smile like that, "Tomorrow sound good?"

"Sounds great!" Naruto replied happily.

It was then that Iruka showed up, "Naruto! I should've known you'd already be here." He then noticed Kurenai. "Ah, Kurenai. What a pleasant surprise. I didn't know you liked ramen."

Kurenai shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with it. Besides, it's what the kid wanted to eat to celebrate."

"Celebrate?" Iruka asked.

Naruto instantly picked up on what Kurenai was doing and chimed in, "Oh man, Iruka sensei, you should have been there! I was so awesome!" Naruto then told Iruka what had happened earlier, slightly altered of course. When Iruka expressed his disbelief, Kurenai convinced him otherwise, telling her part in the altered story. By the end of it, Iruka was thoroughly impressed.

"I'm so proud of you, Naruto! Noticing something was off, then fearlessly stepping in to save a classmate! There really is cause for celebration! Eat as much as you want, Naruto. It's all on me." Iruka said.

"Really? You serious!?" Naruto asked, stars in his eyes.

Iruka chuckled, "Go wild."

"YAHOO! Ayame-nee-san, keep the bowls coming!" Naruto exclaimed.

"A round of ramen for the hero, coming right up!" Ayame said, having heard the story as well.

(Later that night...)

Naruto lay in his bed, trying to sleep, though he knew it was in vain. During the whole event it really didn't have time to hit him till then, today he had taken his first kill. It shouldn't have bothered him that much though, it was an enemy ninja trying to harm one of his classmates and above all Konoha. Now to be frank with himself, Naruto really didn't care much for his village. He viewed the village as its people, and most of them hated him. But if he was to become a shinobi, he had to have loyalty to his village. So he would protect it, but only because he had to. But that still didn't take away from the fact that the man he killed had tried to kill him, so it shouldn't be affecting him this bad. But it was. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw him killing the man. Saw the man's lifeless eye as he lay on the ground dead, blood pooling underneath him from the wounds Naruto had inflicted. He felt himself sticking his Kunai deep into the man's skull, right through his eye. It made him feel sick.

**"Having trouble sleeping?" **The Kyuubi suddenly asked with an all to knowing voice.

_'You.' _Naruto thought with rage. _'You're doing this to me, aren't you?' _

The Kyuubi laughed, **"I wish that I could claim that, but you have no one to blame for this but yourself. Just can't get your mind off it can you? Not that I blame you. Killing is just so much fun. I have to thank you, I really didn't expect to experience bloodshed from you for a while yet. You certainly aim to please, don't you?" **

Naruto could practically hear the smirk she had at the end of that, which only pissed him off even more. He knew that was what the Kyuubi wanted, but it was hard not to be drawn in. _'I did what I had to do. It was my first kill. I'll get over it.'_

**"You mean, you'll get used to it and then you'll enjoy it." **The Kyuubi cut it.

_'Shut up! I'm not listening to you anymore, fuzzbutt! Leave me alone!' _Naruto inwardly shouted in a desperate attempt to get the fox to shut up. He really didn't want to deal with her right now.

**"Oh, so you ****_did _****notice my sexy ass last time you were in here. I was wondering if you did. You are a growing boy after all-" **The Kyuubi said, only to be cut off by Naruto.

"SHUT UP!" He roared, and then noticed he had, in his rage, gone into his mindscape.

He stood in the middle of a vast, bright, white walled chamber. In front of him, tall bars like a prison barred his entrance into most of the room. The room itself was furnished with all a manner of odd furniture, giant throw pillows, mirrors, fountains, statues, one giant shogi board, and various other items. Naruto had totally revamped the place from a dark, dungy sewer into a vast white room, leaving the inside for the Kyuubi to decorate as she saw fit. He had done so to get the fox to slow down the flow of her chakra into his system. He didn't regret his decision. After all, who would want to be mentally handicapped due to chakra poisoning?

The Kyuubi lay sprawled out on one of said giant throw pillows, looking at Naruto with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smile on her face. She was in a humanoid form. She sported dark orange red fur covering her body, though barely concealing anything, long fox ears and nine, ever swishing, tails. **"Color me impressed. I didn't expect you to be such a man of action that you would come in here to claim me. And at such a young age too. You an early bloomer?" **

"Why?" Naruto asked quietly, rage seeping through every word.

**"Why what?" **The Kyuubi asked curiously, very satisfied at the rage her container was showing.

"Why do you do it? Why do you torment me? Always pushing. Day and night. WHY!?" Naruto yelled.

**"Because, my dear kit, I want free. And you are what stands in my way of that freedom. I will do whatever it takes to become free." **The Kyuubi explained in a serious tone, but then instantly grinned evilly and switched back to her more mischievous one, **"And it's just so much fun to torture you."**

"Thanks to the way my dad sealed you in me, we both know that if I die you die, and I _will_ blow myself up with an explosive tag before I ever let that happen." Naruto said dangerously.

The Kyuubi frowned at that. She had gotten carried away in her storytelling when she was telling him about his parents and had let that little detail slip. The boy had been so enraged at the time though that she had hoped he didn't remember. Apparently he did. **"Why? To protect your oh so precious village? I thought you hated them." **The Kyuubi shot back.

"Most of them? Yeah, I honestly could care less if you killed them right now. Even more so cause I'm not even a ninja yet. But, there are people I care about in this village. I'd take you with me just to protect them." Naruto said, deadly serious.

The Kyuubi growled at Naruto's declaration, but then quickly smiled and stood, walking over to him with a smooth flowing grace. As she did, Naruto took a step back from the cage, expecting a trick. Upon reaching the bars, the Kyuubi leaned against them in a very seductive way, **"You've got a big mouth, Naruto-kun. But I know you. I've known you all your life. And if I know anything about you... it's that you are a coward." **She finished, turning her smile into an evil one.

"What!? I'm no coward!" Naruto yelled back, caught off guard by the sudden shift.

**"Oh really? Then let me ask you something, Naruto-kun. How many times have you tried to kill yourself, and failed?" **The Kyuubi asked, triumphant smirk already on her face.

"What? What are you-" Naruto began but was cut off.

**"Don't play dumb with me. I was there during each of your eight attempts. The seal recognized the danger you were in and alerted me. And every single time you tried, you couldn't go through with it, or just plain failed. You are a coward. Too afraid of death to take your own life. So I call your bluff. You aren't going to do jack shit." **The Kyuubi countered.

Naruto felt like an idiot. Of course the seal had alerted her. He had hoped that since it was before he had got in touch with the fox that she wouldn't have been awake. He had found her the first time sleeping after all.

**"Poor, poor Naruto-kun. All that pain. All that sorrow. That never ending abyss of being all alone. You took beatings, torture, rape and even though you were at the end of your rope, you still couldn't end your own life. Even your own genes are against you, after all, your advanced healing certainly didn't help that time you tried to cut your wrists." **The Kyuubi smiled evilly at the now crying silently Naruto, **"Look at you. First trying to hide it behind a mask of happiness, tomfoolery, and boundless energy. Now trying to hide it behind a mask of maturity and sense of purpose. It doesn't change the fact that you're still PATHETIC!" **

"You're wrong about one thing." Naruto said amidst tears before looking the Kyuubi in the eyes. What she saw shocked her, there was a small spark of fire in his eyes. "I may be pathetic, but I'm not alone anymore. I have the old man, and even though he doesn't see me often, I'll be able to see him more once a become a ninja. I have Iruka-sensei. And now, I even have Kurenai-sensei. I'm not alone! With their help, I'm sure I can change! I won't be pathetic. I'll be strong! _You'll see._" Naruto finished with a glare, an air of promise about him as he said his final line. After which he phased out of the Kyuubi sight, signifying he had left his mindscape.

**_"Damn it. That completely backfired. Looks like it'll be next to impossible to break him that way. I'll have to change tactics..." _**The Kyuubi thought after his abrupt departure. Then she remembered his last words and thought with a smirk, **_"About kami damned time, kit..."_**

**A/N: **Hello all. I plan for this one to last longer than the last ff I posted. That one isn't dead, it's just on the back burner till this one is done. Once again, I apologize for all my shitty writing. But, in the off chance your into that sort of thing, Welcome! There will definitely be more to come. Critisim is always appreciated. Interesting ideas will be considered but not always taken. Flames will be met with laughter. If you don't like what you see don't conintue reading. Till next time.


	2. Chapter 2: Giving No Fcks

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did... well... It's obvious I don't.**

Chapter 2 : Giving no Fucks

Naruto sat up in his bed. He was tired from his short time dealing with the Kyuubi, but he knew he wasn't sleeping that night. So he got up, took a nice ice cold shower, put on some water to boil, then grabbed one of the books his clones had gotten for him from the library: A Study and Overview on the various Taijutsu Styles of the World. Naruto raised an eyebrow at his clone's selection. He had recently been reading nothing but chakra control theory books, some ninjutsu scrolls, surprisingly enough, history books, and some battle tactics books. But thinking over why the clone had grabbed the book, he couldn't help but agree with his reasoning. Naruto had practically no Taijutsu training at all and fought mostly with instinct. After his fight with the missing cloud ninja from the day before, the clone obviously recognized that he needed some training in the area. After making an instant cup of ramen and settling down in the only chair he owned, the boy began reading through the book as he ate. As he read, a small smile crept up on his face. He hoped Kurenai-sensei let him use shadow clones again soon. He had some training to do.

Spending the night reading, morning came faster than Naruto thought it would. After taking a moment to get ready for class and grabbing the only book he was unable to read the night before and a bag of nuts he had gathered a few days ago to eat for lunch, the blonde soon left for class. A light mist hung in the early morning air as Naruto walked through the streets. Despite his ever persistent exhaustion, he had a lighter step this morning. He was determined to become stronger and finally had someone that was willing to train him _and_ had the time to do so, unlike Iruka-sensei. Soon enough, he found himself headed towards his seat in the classroom, early as usual. He noticed only one other kid was there before him. Glancing at him a moment and trying to drudge up old memories, he determined that the kid was Shino, the only Aburame in the class. Shrugging, Naruto opened the book he had brought and started reading, then blinked. Flipping the book over, he looked at the title: Tales of a Gutsy Ninja. Why would his clone grab a work of fiction? He had more important things to read. Oh well, at least the main character's name was the same as his. That was pretty cool. Deciding he had nothing better to do, the blonde shrugged once more, stuck a leaf on his forehead, then began reading.

Naruto completely ignored the other students as they made their way in, getting lost in his book, until class began and Iruka made Naruto put it away. As much as Naruto was finding that he loved history, class seemed to drag on forever as Iruka talked about tactics used during a skirmish in the first shinobi war, aka mostly useless information. Naruto nearly leapt for joy as he heard Iruka dismiss the class for lunch. As he sat there deciding what he wanted to use the time for, a sudden voice broke his musing, "H-h-hello."

Turning, he saw it was the Hyuuga he had rescued earlier. Slightly surprised at the fact she was talking to him, he simply replied, "Um, hi."

After which, she seemed to freeze for a second before taking a breath and continuing, "Um, i-if it's o-o-ok, c-could I sp-speak w-w-with you f-for a m-moment? O-o-on the r-r-roof?" She finished, almost in a whisper.

Once again, Naruto was surprised. From what he knew of Hyuuga's, they were stuck up pricks that accepted no help and asked for none, and certainly didn't thank anyone that tried to help or succeeded in doing so. So once again, he answered dumbstruck, "Sure, I guess."

"Th-thank you." She said, once more in a whisper, and headed for the roof.

Still surprised, Naruto followed silently. Once on the roof, Hinata led him over to the only tree up there. He waited, as she seemed to be gathering herself, then tensed slightly as she spoke, "I he-heard fr-from Kureni sensei. A-a-about what y-you did. H-h-how you s-s-saved me. I w-wanted t-to thank y-y-you." She said, once more barely above a whisper.

"Oh. Well, you're welcome. It's not like I could just sit by and watch..." Naruto dropped off.

Nodding, Hinata replied, "Th-thank you. B-but th-there's s-s-something you n-n-need t-to know."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"N-n-no one knows." She said.

"Know's what?" Naruto replied, confused.

"N-no one kn-kn-knows, a-about the i-incident. The Ho-ho-hokage de-decided to k-k-keep it s-secret. L-less s-stress on m-m-my f-father. Only y-y-you and th-those involved know a-a-about it. F-f-for safety r-r-reasons. Kurenai sensei a-asked me t-t-to tell y-y-you o-on her b-behalf so th-th-that y-you didn't t-tell anyone e-e-else. B-before she c-c-could talk t-to you a-at l-l-least. S-so, y-yeah..." Hinata finally broke off, somehow managing out her short speech despite her growing insecurities.

"He's keeping it a secret?" Naruto started, about to ask more questions when he started to think about it. Keeping it a secret was probably the best thing to do. From what he had heard about the head of the Hyuuga clan, he was an extremely arrogant, rude, son of a bitch. Someone who thought the village should be thanking him and his clan for the privilege of being a part of it would without a doubt use his own daughter's attempted kidnapping in broad daylight to grab for more power. Not to mention the tension that would result when Hiashi demands recompense from Kumo. Coming out of his musings, Naruto said slowly, "I guess... since it's the best for everyone and all... I'll keep quiet about it. So you don't have to worry, Hinata."

The girl blushed slightly when Naruto said her name and managed out another, almost silent, "Th-thank you..."

It was then that Naruto's stomach decided to make itself known. Blushing and scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Naruto chuckled, "Sorry about that, I guess I'm hungrier than I thought." Then he proceeded to dig out his bag of nuts and sat down under the shade of the tree. After popping a few in his mouth and eating happily, Naruto held the bag up towards the silent Hinata and offered, "Want some?"

Still somewhat unsure how to deal with this much interaction with the boy that came out of nowhere and saved her just the day before, the girl just nodded and took a few. _'Delicious...' _She thought as she ate them, unbeknownst to her with a small smile on her face.

She was broken out of her thoughts when Naruto spoke up, "Feel free to help yourself. I don't have much, but I don't mind sharing." He finished, eating some more as he did.

It was then that Hinata remembered that she was carrying her packed, homemade bento. "Ah! Th-thank you but I a-a-already have m-my o-o-own lunch." She said, realizing that she might have just been really rude. About to stutter out a frantic apology, Naruto stopped her in her tracks, "Oh? That's cool. Well you're still welcome to eat as much as you want," Then he added, completely on impulse, "Hey, I've got an idea. Want to join me for lunch?" Stuck like a deer in headlights, Hinata just nodded dumbly and sat down under the tree next to the blonde. As she unpacked her bento she tried to think of something to say, but sadly came up short. Not that the fact she couldn't think of anything to talk about should be surprising considering who she was sitting next to. As she began to eat, her mind raced. Naruto was turning out to be completely different from what she expected him to be. She had asked some of her classmates what the boy was like and had gotten the same second hand information she mostly already had: he was loud, obnoxious, a prankster, bad to be around or hang out with(details kids had picked up from their parents), always going on about being the Hokage, loves ramen, etc. Sure, she had seen some of what the other kids had said about him yesterday, but just talking with him today, she seemed to be getting a different picture. Hinata's train of thought suddenly derailed when Naruto suddenly asked her a question. Completely missing it due to zoning out, Hinata quickly blushed and stuttered out, "H-huh?"

Naruto smiled, she had been zoning out and he knew he had caught her unawares, "I asked if that was homemade. It looks and smells delicious."

"Oh. Y-y-yes it is." Hinata replied, then with a sudden idea, added, "W-would you l-l-like to try s-some?"

Naruto paused for a moment and Hinata almost giggled at the face he was making. It was obvious he was trying his hardest to say no though he clearly really wanted to try some. Finally, the poor boy managed out, "Thanks. I really appreciate it. But it looks like you worked really hard on that and I would hate for you to go hungry.."

Hinata, finally relaxing a little, shook her head, "I d-don't m-mind sharing. Please, t-try some."

Once again, the girl almost giggled at the excited face the boy made but how he forced himself to reply somewhat calmly, "You sure? I mean, you don't have to feel obligated..."

Nodding her head and confirming it was ok with a "Hm." She handed him the bento.

Naruto tentatively took the lunch and tried a well portioned bite, freezing instantly. Hinata looked at Naruto expectantly for a solid minute before she began to get worried. After another minute she was fidgeting around uncomfortably and about to apologize about how bad the food tasted when suddenly Naruto calmly took the chopsticks he had used to take the bite out of his mouth set them and the bento on the ground to the side away from Hinata, the very suddenly spun around and grabbed the girl by the shoulders while at the same time saying, "Hinata!" Suffice it to say the girl squeaked loudly and jumped slightly, about to run away or pass out or both, when she noticed Naruto's eyes. Said blondes eyes were, in fact, glazed over with stars. "That. Was. AMAZING!" He proclaimed loudly, causing the girl to squeak once more. "I've never tasted anything so good! Well next to ramen of course, but still! Wow! How'd you learn to cook so well?! Could you teach me?"

Hinata blushed a deep red at the praise Naruto was giving her, only Kurenai had ever done the same. Noticing the boy was still holding her and looking at her excitedly and with expectation, Hinata remembered his questions. "I kn-know how to c-c-cook because a-all female c-clan members are t-t-taught to..." She managed out.

"Really? That's so cool!" The blonde replied, then reiterated his question while on his knees and holding his hands together in a very begging like manner, "Could you please teach me? Please? Pretty please? I'd give anything to eat delicious food like that every day!" Naruto begged while unconsciously giving his very best puppy dog face. This caused Hinata to blush even more and go wide eyed at the overly cute sight, realizing he would only plead more if she didn't answer and realizing that she couldn't take much more of it, She finally said, "O-o-ok."

"Really!? You mean it?" Naruto asked back, excited. Getting a shaky nod in reply, Naruto suddenly jumped, "Alright!" It was then that he realized what he was doing. "Ah, sorry about that. I just got a little carried away." He finished with a chuckle and sat back down.

Hinata, still a nice shade of red, shook her head, "It's o-ok."

Smiling, Naruto handed her back her bento and head picked up his bag of nuts. He happily began eating again as Hinata took a few breaths to calm down before doing the same. As the third bite entered her mouth, she froze. It instantly hit her. She had just shared an indirect kiss with the boy sitting next to her. Three times! It was in that moment of realization that her overactive imagination kicked in and gave her a very vivid picture of Naruto doing his puppy dog face and then kissing her. Unable to handle the sudden one two punch, her face promptly went into nuclear meltdown and she passed out. Naruto noticed instantly and put a hand to her head, _'She's burning up. A fever?' _He was about to go get help when he noticed the heat start to leave her. _'The fever's going down... did she just get faint and pass out? Well she seems ok and certainly looks peaceful enough...' _Naruto thought with a sigh of relief. The boy made sure Hinata was comfortable leaning against the tree before he cleaned up the dropped bento and packed it back up for later. Deciding he'd let her rest for the rest of lunch, Naruto leaned against the tree next to her and started reading his book. As he read, Hinata slipped from her position and ended up sleeping on his shoulder. Initially, he froze up, not sure what was happening. But one look at the peaceful Hyuuga put him at ease. Stopping himself from shrugging at the situation, Naruto went back to reading.

The bell signaling it was the end of lunch woke Hinata. Sitting up straight, she yawned loudly while rubbing her eyes. "Sleep well?" She heard a bemused voice say.

Turning, she saw a grinning Naruto next to her. She then eeped and blushed in embarrassment as she remembered what happened. She was about to say something when she noticed the wet spot on his shoulder. Eyes widening and blushing even harder, she stuttered out in shock, "W-w-was I d-d-d-drooling!?"

"Yep." Naruto said with a mischievous grin. Hinata felt another faint come on when Naruto laughed lightly, "No worries, your secret is safe with me. We better get back to class though. I don't want to be late and have to experience another one of Iruka-sensei's pieces of death chalk." He finished with a shudder.

Hinata nodded weakly and the two of them made their way downstairs. The rest of class was just like the first part of it: boring as hell. At least that is what Naruto thought as he sat through it. Once again, Naruto was about to jump for joy when Iruka announced class was over. Smiling widely, He collected his book and was about to jump out the window in search of Kurenai when suddenly Hinata, who had walked over to him, spoke. "N-naruto?"

"Hmm?" He grunted out and turned around. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Ah. W-well if it's n-not t-t-too much trouble, K-kurenai sensei said she w-wanted to t-talk to you." Hinata replied.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to her to. I was just about to go find her, actually." Naruto said.

"W-well, she comes a-after s-school to p-pick me up s-s-so you can j-just talk to her th-then if you w-want." Hinata said.

"Oh? That'll make things easy! Thanks Hinata-chan!" Naruto replied with a smile.

The added suffix caused the girl to blush. "C-chan?" She asked out loud without realizing.

Noticing her look of confusion and taking her blush for anger, Naruto quickly backtracked, "Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to just assume we were friends! I'll just call you Hinata. I'm sorry!"

Hinata just shook her head, "Mm-nm. I d-don't m-mind. I w-w-was just surprised. I d-d-don't have m-many friends s-so it w-was unexpected. B-but I w-would be happy t-to be your fr-friend..." Then she added hesistantly, "N-n-naruto-k-kun."

The smile the girl got nearly made her pass out as it was one of Naruto's rare true smiles. "And I'm happy to be yours Hinata-chan! Shall we go meet Kurenai sensei?"

"Mm!" The girl replied happily with a nod before blinking in confusion. "W-wait. N-naruto-kun, why d-do you c-call her sensei?"

_'Crap. I can't tell her it's because of the kyuubi. I'll lose my first friend just as I got her! I better play this cool... _"Hm? Oh. That's cause she agreed to train me as thanks for rescuing you. Aaaaaaand cause I begged her really hard to." Naruto laughed lightly while looking a little embarrassed and rubbing the back of his head. _'I'll have to tell Kurenai sensei later so our story matches. I hope Hinata-chan doesn't bring it up before I can...' _"I mean, she was just so cool taking out those missing-nin! And she did it so easily, too! I couldn't help but to ask her to train me." Naruto finished and looked to Hinata.

"Oh. W-well I'm glad sh-she agreed t-t-to train y-you." Hinata said.

"Yeah, me too! Today will be our first session! I can't wait!" Naruto said while smiling enthusiastically.

Once the two got to the school entrance, they found Kurenai waiting for them. "H-hello Kurenai-sensei." "Hey, sensei!" The two children greeted her.

"Hello to you two as well. I'm glad to see you getting along. Did Hinata give you my message, Naruto?" Kurenai replied.

Naruto nodded. "Yep. No worries sensei, I'll keep quiet."

"Good. That's one less thing to worry about then. Ready to go home, Hinata?" The older women asked. Getting a nod for the shy girl, she turned to Naruto, "We can start your training after we drop her off if you're ready for it."

"I'm ready when you are sensei." He replied with a grin.

Kurenai nodded and was about to head in the direction of the Hyuuga compound when Hinata's sudden voice stopped her. "F-f-father?"

The other two in the group turned to look at the head of the Hyuuga clan approach them. Once he was close enough, Kurenai spoke, "Good day, Hiashi. What a pleasant surprise. What brings you out this way today?" She asked in a very amiable voice.

"I was in the vicinity and decided to pick up my daughter myself today since she has an evaluation by the council." Hiashi replied coldly before looking at Hinata. "Hinata. Come." He commanded as if she were no more than a dog. "Y-y-yes F-father." She replied meekly before hurrying over to his already retreating side.

Once they were far enough away, Naruto said with a grimace, "Damn. I had heard he was bad, but that just made him look worse."

"Unfortunately, too many rumors about him are true. What's even more unfortunate is the fact that there is nothing we can do about it." Kurenai finished with a sigh. "Anyway, let's go so we can get started, shall we?" This brought a small smile to the blondes face. With a nod, the two headed to one of the many training grounds around Konoha.

(At one of the many training grounds of Konoha)

"Ok, to begin I want you to tell me all the Justus's you know, which ones the Kyuubi has taught you, and any other skills you have." Kurenai started off.

"Well, the only Jutsu's I know are the Henge, Substitution, and Shadow Clone." Naruto replied.

Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "You know how to make Shadow Clones but not regular ones?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I was confused about that too for a while. But I've been studying in the library and was able to find out why. Simply, I have way too much chakra and not enough control over it to create one. When I do try the Jutsu I can't limit the amount I put in enough to be able to control the clone effectively, so they just end up looking like zombies." Naruto finished.

"You have so much chakra that your control is shot? I find that hard to believe. You're not even a Genin yet. Your pools should be small." Kurenai countered.

"After reading up, I got curious about that too. My best guess is it's because of my... tenant." _'And my heritage, but you don't need to know that.' _Naruto replied.

"Ah. That does make sense. Well how big are your reserves? I saw you make two clones yesterday. How many can you safely make without feeling strained?" Kurenai questioned.

"Um..." Naruto stalled as he assumed his thinking pose. "You know, I never really pushed myself so far as to feel a strain. I can make 500 easily enough though."

Kurenai balked, "Kid, boasting like that will get you nowhere-"

Naruto cut her off, "I'm not boasting. With your permission, I'll show you sensei."

Seeing his calm assured face, Kurenai stopped from outright denying him. 500 clones? Who did the kid think he was? He would die well before that. But his face of calm determination, of 100 percent confidence, made her think twice. Before she even knew what she was saying, she smirked, "Alright kid, let's see what you got."

(Several Hours Later...)

After Kurenai finally got over her initial shock of the size of Naruto's chakra reserves, which took a good ten minutes of staring in shock at well over 500 clones, and moving to a more secluded location and finally masking their presence with some genjutsu, she got around to getting a full scope of the blondes ability. In short, the Jounin had her work cut out for her. She now knew why he had failed so much already. He had next to no Taijutsu skills to speak of at all, his chakra control was absolutely abysmal, to her, even with his huge reserves, and he had next to no knowledge of genjutsu whatsoever. The only thing that was of any worth for the kid was his ingenuity and battle tactics, sure they could use work like everything else, but at least they were up to snuff for a soon to be genin. Even with all his failings, she couldn't help but be impressed with the kid. He had gone from virtually no chakra control to some in a matter of months, according to him. _'Still, it's nowhere near where I want someone I'm training to be. Now that I've seen him in action, I know how to direct him. Good thing this trick of his for training with shadow clones is so handy...' _Kurenai thought to herself as she watched the hundreds of Naruto's do horizontal handstands from trees while balancing several leaves from the heels of their feet, the entire time concentration and determination painted on their faces. Most people didn't have his kind of reserves so they didn't have to come up with ways to refine them. Luckily for Kurenai, she had only modest reserves at best, even for a Jounin, and as such learned long ago to make each ounce of the stuff count. In the process of refining her control, she had developed quite a few... interesting ways of reaching said control. And she was going to use every one on the unknowing blonde.

Kurenai was shaken from her musings when the real Naruto suddenly skid to a stop next to her, breathing heavily. While his clones had worked on fixing his control, she had set the kid to improving his physique. Though it had been fine for his current level, or if she was honest with herself somewhat better in terms of speed despite his diet, she now knew what the kid had to deal with and wanted him better prepared. "Go through the cool down stretches I showed you, then we'll call it a day." Kurenai said to Naruto who nodded and began wordlessly going through the forms she had shown him earlier. The sun was almost completely set and she wanted to take the kid shopping for groceries before it got too late. During the hours of confirming her fears of Naruto's inadequate training, she had also gathered intel on his day to day life. How he lived, what he ate, how he had trained before, and so on. Each unsettling discovery had kindled Kurenai's inner rage more and more. She was now determined to see Naruto fully taken care of, either by herself, via a friend, or by himself. She would teach him what he needed to survive. Honestly, the Jounin was surprised he had lasted this long. She knew now knew he had a lot of buried emotional trauma, both from the way the village had treated him and from having the Kyuubi sealed in him. Which she had found out tormented him just as much as the villagers did and only trained him when he could broker a deal from the beast.

"Whew. Man that was tough, I'm beat. And starving. Think we could hit someplace on the way home sensei? Please?" Naruto asked as he walked over to her after finishing his stretching. Kurenai couldn't help but chuckle at the kid, it seems he unconsciously pulled the most adorable puppy dog face whenever he asked someone for something he really wanted. "I suppose we can, since you worked so hard today. What are you in the mood for?" Naruto grinned before replying, "Ichiraku's of course!" Kurenai mulled over the idea for a minute before nodding, "Alright, but don't think this will be an everyday thing. I want you eating a healthier diet and ramen isn't good for you." Naruto frowned and looked down, "Yeah, I know. But at least can I have some ever now and then?" He asked hopefully, once more going into begging puppy dog mode causing Kurenai to chuckle again. "Maybe as rewards for doing good in your training. But you'll have to earn it."

"Deal!" The blonde instantly replied.

Shaking her head at the kid's enthusiasm for both training and ramen, she turned to leave and then thought of something, "Hey kid, make a clone with a decent amount of chakra to him, one to last as long as the rest of them." She finished by jabbing a thumb at the training clones. "Sure thing, sensei!" He said before making the required hand sign and creating a clone. "What do you need sensei?" The clone asked.

Kurenai had pulled out a blank paper tag while he had done that and had begun writing on it, "I'm going to tie my genjutsu's to this tag. It'll warn you by the sound of a bell if anyone crosses the ones I have set up so you'll know to dispel. I'll also have it sound like a nightingale if the chakra I put into it runs out so you know to dispel more gradually." She explained as she wrote. Once she finished, she handed the tag to the clone who nodded and jumped up into a tree. It had been decided on by the two of them that they should keep Naruto's skills hidden as best as they could for now under the simple rule that Moths are always draw to a flame. And with Naruto already having so many problems as he was, sticking out would only cause more.

(Several Months Later...)

Without question, the last few months had been the best of Naruto's life. To his eyes, things were finally turning around. He had made friends. He had a sensei that was awesome and had helped him get strong. And the best part, he was now a genin, even if he had graduated last in his class due to keeping up with his last place facade. Life to him was good. The last few months had gone pretty much the same way. Going to school, which pretty much meant hanging with Hinata. After school he would either walk Hinata home with Kurenai-sensei or the two of them would teach Naruto things he needed to know in life. Everything from cooking, or cleaning, or good hygiene, to how to mend or fix things properly and even decent survival skills, though Kurenai taught that to both Naruto and Hinata. It was after Naruto and Kurenai dropped off Hinata that they would go out and train. The main thing Kurenai wanted for Naruto was what Naruto wanted for himself in the first place: impeccable chakra control. And he had come a long way, a very long way, in the short time he had been training under Kurenai thanks to shadow clones. While he still didn't have perfect control like Kurenai did, his control was amazingly good for the size of his reserves. He could now easily perform the regular clone with only a little effort, though it was much easier to perform the Jutsu in bulk, as he had shown with a smirk at the academies final exam yesterday. Another good thing about control is less waste of chakra which leads to more gain. Thanks to that, even though his reserves really hadn't grown much in the last few months, he could now make well over a thousand clones, have each and every one of those clones usable in a fight, and still have enough for himself to fight. Which in and of itself was an amazing ability.

In addition to finally learning the last of the academy three , Kurenai had introduced the blonde into the lovely world of Genjutsu. All she had to say was that Genjutsu was basically only limited by your imagination and Naruto was ready to learn. Sure it wasn't physically affecting his surroundings, but the possibilities to screw with people, in and out of combat, were practically endless and that greatly appealed to Naruto. Though if he was being honest with himself, Genjutsu was HARD. He was glad for all his chakra control training when he finally started training in the art of Genjutsu because it was just that, an _art_. The smallest mistake while molding your chakra while creating the illusion, or while holding the illusion and your enemy could detect it, or it could change in a very unrealistic way, or just fade out of view entirely. Also, the smarter your enemy was, the more complicated you had to make your illusion to fool them. Still, while Naruto was no expert, he could create passable Genjutsu which to him was a big accomplishment. He had even impressed Kurenai, as she had explained that most don't use Genjutsu because it normally requires a higher intelligence and implicit attention to detail.

Other than Genjutsu, Naruto had been working on his Taijutsu. Kurenai had taught him the academy's basic style of Taijutsu as well as how to attack someone by surprise while hidden in genjutsu. And while Naruto was grateful to have an actual fighting style and enjoyed using Genjutsu to launch sneak attacks his sensei taught him, he never felt that the style was really 'him.' So Naruto took it upon himself to find the style that was right for him. He started in the library and, after finding several styles that seemed promising, decided to give them a try. He immediately brought up his intentions to Kurenai. The Jounin had been able to tell he needed to adopt a different style or create his own when teaching him the academy Taijutsu forms. So when the blonde brought several Taijutsu scrolls to her asking for help in learning them, she encouraged him and did what she could to help. And while he never stuck with one style, Naruto did take several forms from each of the styles he tried, meshing them into his own unique fighting method. He may not have his style completely down yet, but at least he had all the forms memorized from each of the scrolls he had taken them from and was working on making them muscle memory.

Naruto smirked. There had been other things he had been learning. He had promised to tell Kurenai about the techniques the Kyuubi taught him, not things he learned from his dreams. Granted, he really hadn't been able to learn much with what little time he had to himself, but there was some advantages to being an insomniac. He had really only learned one Jutsu fully, the Shuriken Shadow clone jutsu, but had started learning others. One in particular, one of the more constant things in his dreams, was the Rasengan, a move his father had created. Thinking about the move caused Naruto to frown. The move was a constant frustration to the blonde. Even with having his leftover clones train the move after he and Kurenai left every day and training the move on his own at night, he had only gotten the second stage of the move down. He was still having trouble with the third and final step. Shaking his head, he stopped thinking about the Jutsu, it was only a matter of time after all.

Even though he had stopped thinking about the Rasengan, thinking about one frustrating subject had lead to another, Hinata. At first, their friendship had been an uneasy one, both wary of the other. But over the months, and with a little help from Kurenai, they had become great friends. When you grow familiar with someone though, you notice things about them that you didn't see at first. The same was true for Naruto. He now knew a lot about his friend, her likes and dislikes, her aspirations in life, her personality, even how she'd react to certain things. But that knowledge also meant that he had eventually found out that Hinata's family beat her on a regular basis. The first time he had noticed something wrong was when one day Hinata came to school she was more withdrawn than usual, even for her. She barely spoke more than a word at a time, if that, and cringed if someone so much as looked at her. At first, Naruto thought that she may have been sick or perhaps it was just that time of the month (knowledge he had unfortunately learned about thanks to the Kyuubi's tormenting). Hinata seemed to recover in a few days so he wasn't worried. When the same thing happened about a month later, he worked up the courage to ask her about it, only to be met with her freezing up and finally telling him not to ask about it. The third time around, less than two weeks after the second time, Naruto knew something was up. When he brought it up this time when they were having lunch on the roof as was their custom, a bit more forceful that he maybe should have, he caused the poor girl to freak out and try to run. All she managed to do, however, was trip, causing her hoodie to rip on a root of the tree along the arm up to her elbow revealing a very bruised arm. Seeing her hoodie rip, then seeing Naruto see her arm, had cause the girl to break down right there. Naruto, after getting over his initial shock, did the sensible thing and held the girl till she stopped crying, the whole time doing his best to not go enraged at what he had seen. When she had finally stopped crying, she told Naruto all about her family life. How she was treated day after day, how if she failed to meet expectations, which was practically always, they would 'train' her till all her tenketsu were closed then beat her further for being weak. Often it was her father that did the beating, but several of the elders on the clan, her cousin Neji, and even her younger sister all took part sometimes. Her only reprieve from her hell of a home life was when she was able to go to school or when she could stay out a little while and hang with Naruto and Kurenai. Suffice it to say, that day Naruto had skipped the rest of class with Hinata to find Kurenai.

Kurenai had, of course, been furious and had brought the matter up to the Hokage. Only to be shut down under the pretense that it was "clan business" and that they had no authority to interfere and if they did that they could be punished to the full extent of the clans own justice system. Ultimately, there was nothing they could do and it frustrated them to no end. At the very least, Hinata now had people she could talk to about her life at home. And whenever she did get beaten, which was more often than any of them would like, Kurenai would bandage her up and apply salves to help speed her healing. She also taught Naruto and Hinata how to as well.

Naruto grimaced. It had gotten to the point to where Naruto contemplated destroying the Hyuuga compound on a daily basis even without the Kyuubi's prodding, though she certainly did. Luckily, Naruto was in more control of himself due to his chakra control training. _"If you are to control your chakra completely, you must first be able to control yourself. Your emotions will hinder your focus, thus your control which will lead to ruining whatever jutsu you're creating. Control your emotions and you are one step closer to controlling your chakra."_ Was one of Kurenai sensei's first lessons. Sighing, Naruto glanced at his clock, it was almost time to leave for school to finally find out what his team will be. Letting several chopsticks clatter to the ground, he eased his feet to the ground and went to gather his things. He had been doing one of the advanced chakra control exercises that Kurenai had shown him. It basically involved him keeping himself at a forty five degree angle up in the air from a chair back by one finger, which would cause it to tip from his weight under normal conditions, so part of the exercise was to send his chakra through the chair to keep it cemented to the ground. To make the exercise even more intense, he had his legs and one remaining arm spread out and on the tip of each finger and toe he held a chopstick in place like he would a leaf at its thinnest point. Naruto shook his head at his sensei's promise for even more challenging exercises soon to come. Gathering his things, which ended in him securing his headband to his head tightly, He made his way over to the spot where he normally met up with Kurenai and Hinata. Though now it would just be Hinata, as since she was a genin she was considered strong enough to look after herself, at least in the village.

Getting there early as usual, Naruto leaned against a building and stared at a leaf he had grabbed on the way. Between his dreams and studying in the library, Naruto had learned quite a bit about nature chakra manipulation. He didn't have the means to get a hold of chakra paper to find out what his affinity was and Kurenai had said that he'd have to wait till he was a genin at the very least before she would be willing to train him in nature manipulation. Well that time had finally come. While he may not have a say in which element he got, he had been thinking about the pros and cons of each element, and had narrowed down which two he'd hope for the most, Fire or Earth. Fire would help fill holes in his fighting style, giving him mid to long range attacks. Earth, however, would fortify his style more, adding to his defensive abilities as well as his general over all screwing with your enemy with annoyances or otherwise theme. Still, he was determined to make any element work to his advantage.

Naruto waited there contemplating different things he could do with different elements till Hinata showed up, also sporting her newly acquired headband. "Morning, Hinata-chan! How are you today?"

"Morning, Naruto-k-kun. I'm great..." Hinata finished with a smile.

Naruto responded with one of his own, "Ready to see who we get?"

"Sure." She replied as they started walking towards the academy. Naruto noticed that she was still smiling as they walked and smiled in turn. He had an idea why she was happy, but wanted to make sure, "I take it your father took the news of you becoming a genin well enough?"

"Y-you could say that..." Hinata replied, "It went just as we thought it would. In f-fact, it went even better."

"Oh? How so?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"I think he m-might... completely ignore me now. He said he was giving the position of heiress of the clan officially to Hanabi. So he'll h-have to train her now..." She finished with a smile once more.

Naruto knew that basically meant less, if any, training sessions for Hinata. Which would be less sessions to fail at and thus get beaten for. A reason to be happy indeed. The pair walked in a happy silence all the way to the academy. Sitting together at the back of the class, they waited for all the other students for show up as well as Iruka sensei. Once everyone was there, Iruka addressed the class, "I know you all are anxious to meet your Jounin instructors so I'll keep this short. I want to start off..."

_"Come on Iruka sensei. You don't say you're going to keep things short then say the opening lines of a speech. Oh well, I can tell how proud he is of everyone. I just hope his speech isn't too long. That and that me and Hinata-chan are on the same squad together. It'd be nice if Kurenai sensei was our instructor, but I'd settle for just Hinata-chan." _Thinking of the Hyuga made him look at the girl. As he did he had to suppress a chuckle, she seemed to be beaming at Iruka's praise. _"Well she deserves it. She's come a long way. She hardly stutters around me anymore and from the few times she was able to train some with me and Kurenai sensei I know she's strong. She just needs more confidence and she'd easily be able to take Sasuke." _Thinking of the Uchiha made Naruto glance over at the kid, which made him grimace. Naruto had to give it to him, he had been through some messed up crap, just like he had, and had worked his butt off to become best in the class. But that didn't mean the bastard didn't have an huge ego and a stick up his ass as well as a sense of entitlement because he was an Uchiha. And that he was overrated. _"Whatever. I doubt I'll be stuck in his squad. After today I don't have to worry about seeing his sorry butt every day. That's another good thing about graduating." _Naruto thought happily.

"... Alright, now I'll announce the teams." Iruka said. "Starting with team..." _"Finally. Please let me be with Hinata-chan, Please let me be with Hinata-chan, Please let me be with Hinata-chan..." _Naruto inwardly chanted as Iruka listed off the teams. "Team seven will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno," "YES!" Sakura cheered loudly. "NO!" Ino yelled at the same time. "... and Naruto Uzumaki." At the mention of his name on a team with neither Hinata or Kurenai, Naruto groaned loudly, finishing the sound with letting his head hit his desk with a loud thump, "... dammit." Naruto hadn't let himself see the obvious, but in a lot of his dreams the team he was on was the normal outcome.

"What? Iruka sensei! Why is that loser Naruto on a team with Sasuke!" Sakura complained.

"Because this way your team is perfectly balanced, Sasuke was the first in the class and Naruto was last. Your Jounin instructor is Kakashi Hatake." At the mention of Kakashi, Naruto started banging his head against his desk repeatedly. _"Son. Of. A. Bitch. Son. Of. A. Bitch. Son..." _Naruto constantly repeated in his head, punctuating each bang with a word.

"Team eight will be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga." Iruka continued. At the sound of Hinata's name, Naruto stopped trying to cause bodily harm to his person and listened. "Your instructor will be Kurenai Yuhei. Team nine will..." Naruto looked over to Hinata to see her looking down, "I'm s-sorry, Naruto-kun. I wish you could be on m-my team." Hinata said sadly.

"Hey, don't worry about it. At least one of us got Kurenai sensei." Naruto said back, smiling. _"And you definitely need her more than I do."_

"B-but..." Hinata said, Naruto's attempt to cheer her up failing.

Naruto shook his head slightly then leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "I'll let you in on a secret." Hinata went still, "I've heard some things about my instructor. He's kinda lazy so I'll have plenty of time to myself to train. I'm sure Kurenai sensei won't mind if I come train with you guys then. So don't worry, we'll see each other all the time." He paused for a second then added, "Besides, now that your prick of a father has finally released you from his clutches, you can do what you want. So whenever you have free time your more than welcome to come over to my place and hang." He leaned back and smiled. Hinata had perked up quite a bit at the news.

"Y-you... you really mean it?" She whispered back.

"Of course. Anytime is fine! Even if it's the middle of the night. You know I'll probably be awake anyway." Naruto affirmed with a soft laugh. Hinata smiled brightly in return.

"... let me just say one more thing before releasing you to your instructors, I am so very proud of you and I know you will all become excellent shinobi." Iruka finished. After which, the instructors already there began collecting their teams. Kurenai was one of them. "You go on ahead. I'll try to come hang out later, ok?" Naruto told Hinata.

Hesitating just a second, Hinata left with a simple, "S-see you later." And went to her team. After they had left, Naruto sighed. _"This. Is going. To suck." _Hanging his head in defeat, he then blinked in surprise. The grain of the wood of his desk had changed into letters, forming a message.

Sorry, kid.

I tried getting both of you in my squad, but could only get permission for one of you two. I chose Hinata. We both know why. If Kakashi is as lazy as people say he is and he leaves you to your own devices enough, you're always welcome to train with my team. You're a genin now kid. So no need to keep up that idiot last in the class act. Wait, I forgot being an idiot wasn't an act...

K

Naruto smiled at the message then wordlessly dispelled the genjutsu. Well, maybe this wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

(3 hours later...)

It had been a good while since the last team had left with their new sensei. Naruto had taken to reading a book he had luckily grabbed with an afterthought that morning. Though with how Sakura kept going on about everything and nothing in that loud annoying voice of hers, Naruto was having a hard time focusing. He had to give it to Sasuke, the guy ignored her like a champ. Sighing, he closed his book and put it away. He was bored, and it had been too long since he had pulled a decent prank. Walking down to the blackboard, he found the most used eraser and then stuck it in the top of the door so that whoever opened it would be met with an eraser to the head.

"Hey idiot, what are you doing?" Sakura asked accusingly.

"Kakashi has left us waiting here for three hours. He deserves a little punishment. Besides, he's an elite Jounin. If he falls for a simple trick like this then it's his own fault." Naruto said with irritation.

"Whatever, I'm not part of that." Sakura said and then turned to begin talking to Sasuke again. Naruto, at the same time, began walking back to his seat. It was then he heard the sliding of a door and a quiet pop of the eraser hitting Kakashi's head. Turning, he saw the aftermath of his work and grinned, "Well what do you know. It actually worked."

"I'm sorry sensei. I tried to stop him but..." Sakura explained weakly.

Sasuke just looked at Kakashi skeptically.

"Hmmm... How do I say this. My first impression of you guys is... I don't like you." Kakashi said.

"Well I don't like you so I guess we're even. Now can we get our introductions and whatever else over with already? I have better stuff to do that sit around for three hours waiting on a sensei." Naruto said, coating the last part heavily with frustration and sarcasm.

Kakashi looked at Naruto, then at Sakura and Sasuke, and shrugged. "Meet on the roof in five minutes." He said and then shushined away.

"Great! Now look what you did, idiot! Our sensei hates us now!" Sakura yelled angrily at Naruto.

Naruto completely ignored her, "Real petty Kakashi. Making us wait five minutes all because of a prank?" Naruto muttered as he walked over to the window.

"Naruto! Don't you dare ignore me!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto did just that, "Come on guys, We'll be here all night if we don't get this over with." And with that he left the two of them, looks of shock on their faces as Naruto stepped out onto the side of the building and walked up to the roof. He took it as a small victory when Kakashi's eye widened in surprise as Naruto stepped up on the top of the roof from its side. The two of them waited in silence for Sasuke and Sakura showed up.

Before the other two could say anything, Kakashi spoke up, "Good. Now that we're all here let's introduce ourselves." After a small stretch of silence where no one stepped up to go first Kakashi resumed, "... I guess I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm... Well I have lots of hobbies."

"So all we learned... is his name?" Sakura whispered to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Alright, now all of you. From the left." Kakashi said.

"Oh. Um, I'm Sakura Haruno. The thing I like is..." She glanced at Sasuke, "Well the person I like is..." She looked at Sasuke again and giggled, "Umm... Should I say my dream for the future?" After a short pause she squealed, "Oh My!" Then after another pause, "The thing I dislike is Naruto." _"This is me giving no fucks..."_ Naruto thought to himself. "As for hobbies..." She once more looked at Sasuke and giggled.

"Next." Kakashi said to stop her from going on.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a ton of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And, I don't want to use the term dream, but... I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and... to kill a certain man."

"So cool..." Sakura said in a daze.

"Whatever. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. These two already know my likes and dislikes," Naruto said while motioning to his two teammates, "And I know you could care less about them. Though in case you haven't heard, my dream is to become Hokage. And make no mistake, I _will_." Naruto declared with a confident grin.

"Yeah right, as if an idiot like you could ever become Hokage!" Sakura yelled.

"Well that's enough of that. We'll start our duties tomorrow." Kakashi said, "We'll start by doing something with just for four of us. Survival training."

"Why is our first duty training? We did enough training in the academy." Sakura interjected.

"Well, in all actuality, it isn't really training but more of a test. One that has a failure rate of over 66%! I'd guess that of the twenty seven that graduated the academy around only nine will pass this test and become actual genin." Kakashi finished with an evil chuckle.

"Is that supposed to scare me? Even if there was a 99% failure rate I wouldn't be afraid. I'm going to pass. Believe it." Naruto replied calmly.

Kakashi eye smiled, "I certainly hope so. Anyway, show up at training field thirty seven at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow. Bring everything you think you'll need to pass. Oh, and skip breakfast or you'll throw up." After a pause for dramatic effect, Kakashi resumed, "Remember, eight o'clock sharp. Don't be late." He then let via shushin.

_"Even with the three hours of wasted time, there's still plenty of sun left in the day." _Naruto thought as he looked up at the position of the sun. _"I would love to go train, but Kurenai sensei is probably busy actually doing her job unlike stupid Kakashi. So since I can't do that I guess I'll go read up at the library," _Naruto thought as he turned to head for the library. _"And after, some Ichiraku Ramen! I haven't been by there in a few days. Just wait a few more hours ramen. I will be there to eat you soon." _Naruto was just about to start leaping across roof tops when he was suddenly stopped.

"Hey, Naruto." Sasuke said.

"Hmm?" Naruto asked while turning around, "What do you want, Uchiha?"

"Naruto! don't be so rude to Sasuke!" Sakura yelled though both ignored her.

"How were you able to walk up the side of the building like it was nothing? They didn't teach us to do that in the academy." Sasuke demanded angrily.

"Mmm? Oh yeah... How were you able to do that?" Sakura asked as well, her curiosity piqued.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "I thought I was just an idiot. Isn't that what you call me, practically every time you see fit to speak with me? You're the one with book smarts. You tell me how an idiot such as myself could explain something I do without thinking." Sakura sputtered for a reply before Naruto spoke back up, looking at Sasuke, "And I'm sorry, Sasuke. I figured the class genius already knew how to do something so simple and didn't need the last in the class's help." Leaving Sakura still sputtering and Sasuke glaring at him, Naruto leapt from the rooftop. It only took him a few seconds to realize that Sasuke had chased after him in anger, which meant Sakura wouldn't be far behind. Losing them was a piece of cake, all it took was jumping down into a busy street and using a henge, then creating a shadow clone and sent him running in a different direction. After watching Sasuke and Sakura run after his clone, Naruto smiled. _"All too easy..." _Naruto thought, then headed for the library.

(Later that night...)

Naruto stood in the middle of a forest covered in a deep fog. Taking in a deep breath, Naruto realized he was dreaming. It didn't happen often, but every now and then he would realize he was dreaming and be able to control his movements in the dream. The night air seemed cold and crisp to him as he started walking forward. He couldn't say why he did it; he just knew he had to go this way. As he walked, he noticed a red glow in the distance and the smell of smoke became stronger. His dread grew as he continued ever forward. He had the power to stop, but he also knew this was nothing but a dream and that he could wake from it whenever he needed to. Walking ever forward, the fog turned to smoke. It became hard to breath, hard to see, even hard to think. His dread grew, yet he walked forward. For some reason, he felt as if there was something he _had _to see. Walking forward, squinting his eye's trying to see but failing to do so more than a foot from his face, Naruto continued on. He did so till he tripped over something. Pulling himself up he looked at what he had tripped over and froze. He hadn't tripped over something, but someone. He froze at what he saw. There on the ground, dull lifeless eyes staring at the sky, lay Hinata. There were lines of blood coming from her mouth, eyes, and ears as if it had been forced out from the inside.

"This is... this is just a dream. Just a... oh kami. Hinata. Why her..." Naruto said shakily as he got to his feet.

The Kyuubi had brought nightmares were Hinata had died before, but this felt so much worse, so much more real, that the sight had shaken Naruto. Feeling like he was on the verge of puking, he managed to turn his head away from her and back towards to glow in the distance. He still felt like he needed to see more. Even with the dead body of his one only true friend laying at his feet, he knew he had to continue on. Such was the need he felt. Walking on shaky feet and panting like he was out of breath, Naruto walked on. A strong gust of wind suddenly whipped up blowing the smoke away. It revealed that Naruto was on the edge of a cliff overlooking Konoha. Or rather, what was left of Konoha. The village was ablaze, craters and rents littered the earth and buildings and the Hokage monument was completely gone like it had been vaporized. In short, the village was completely and utterly destroyed. The sound of someone whistling in appreciation to the left of him caused Naruto to whip his head in that direction. What he saw was the Kyuubi in human form looking at the village. What was odd was that the Kyuubi was see through, like she wasn't tangible or actually there, and when she moved she blurred excessively. Seeing her, he instantly knew that she wasn't part of his dream but was the real thing.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, suddenly angry. "You're doing this, aren't you!"

Turning to face him, the Kyuubi grinned mischievously, **"Not that you'll believe me, but no. This isn't my doing. I'm only here because I felt an odd pull and decided to investigate."**

"Sure it isn't, as if I'm going to believe something as stupid as 'an odd pull.'" Naruto said while making quotation marks with his hands.

The Kyuubi shrugged, **"I can't really explain it better than that because it's something I've never experienced before. Not while free nor during my time as a prisoner with the last two who held me."** She looked back at the village and smiled, **"It's been a while sense I've experienced something... new."** She said mostly to herself. Despite what he wanted to think, Naruto once more somehow knew that what she said was true. Not that he knew she wasn't lying, but that he knew that whatever was causing this dream, the Kyuubi wasn't it.

**"You see?"** The Kyuubi spoke up, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts, **"That is what is to come."** He saw that she was pointing towards the village. Following her finger, he found himself looking at a dark red dot in the middle of one of the bigger craters towards the center of the village. Suddenly, his vision leapt forward, as if his eyes sudden got thousands of times better. What he saw made his blood run cold. It was him, cloaked in red chakra that gave him fox ears and nine, ever swishing tails. The chakra gave him a long red coat, long red pants, and clawed chakra covered feet. This him was yelling at the sky, tears flowing from his face freely.

**"That,"** The Kyuubi continued, causing Naruto to look back at her even though she stared at the other him, "**is what you can gain. All you have to do is accept my power. Do so, and you could do anything, destroy anything, even.."** The Kyuubi cut off suddenly, eyes widening in shock. **"That's... not possible..."** She said. Naruto took a second look at the other him. It took him a minute to find what she did, but when he did his eyes widened as well. The other Naruto's tear stained eyes were sharp, not consumed by rage and bloodlust. There was definitely rage in them, but he, the other Naruto, had control. "I see..." Naruto said, getting the Kyuubi's attention, He had had a moment of clarity, "That other me... he saw Hinata die. He wanted revenge and reached to you to gain the power to do so, only... he didn't ask you for it, but took it by force... all of it. He _bested _you. Took complete control of your chakra. And with it... destroyed Konoha."

**"Tch. This is not but a dream! Do not even imagine for a second that you could do the same thing!"** The Kyuubi suddenly lashed out, anger in her eyes. **"I will consume you and in doing so be free. That is what will happen!"** She declared as she glared at Naruto who looked surprisingly calm. **"Remember that, kit."** She finished and tried to leave only to sport a shocked face once more. **"W-what?"** She then turned on Naruto, **"Why do you hold me here?! Release me back to my dwelling!"**

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "I'm not. At least not consciously. You can't leave then?"

The Kyuubi knew when Naruto was lying, and now wasn't one of them. She answered through clenched teeth, **"I. Cannot."**

"That's odd. I wonder if I can wake up.." Naruto asked. As he tried to, he found himself easily shifting into consciousness. He stared at the ceiling, trying to make sense of the odd dream and all it entailed. Before he could think long, however, the Kyuubi spoke once more.

**"That certainly was... odd." **She said, **"I could not leave till you did. Rather... I was forced to leave when you awoke." **She went quiet for a long moment before she finally asked. **"Do you have any idea what that was?"**

Despite the shakiness he still felt from seeing Hinata dead in that dream, He couldn't help but smirk, _"What's this? The great nine tailed demon fox asking a 13 year old mortal if he has any idea what happened? How long have you lived again?"_

**"Cut the crap kit and answer my question."**

_"As if I have any obligation to tell you shit. You torment me constantly, give me nightmares, constantly try to make me break. You tell me, Kyuubi. Why should I tell you jack!?" _Naruto inwardly ranted.

After a moment of silence, she replied, **"You tell me what you know... be it small or seemingly insignificant, and I will... grant you a favor. It has its limits, I will not give you anything you ask, but... you would do well to have me... own you one, I suspect." **The Kyuubi finished in a very uncharacteristic businesslike manner.

Naruto thought it over before replying, _"I'll tell you, but on two conditions."_

Naruto could almost feel her glare, **"... speak them."**

_"You will own me a favor. But on top of that, you will stop giving me nightmares and visions of horrible things. I'm messed up enough on my own that my mind doesn't need you adding fuel to the fire." _Naruto stated resolutely.

**"You ask too much, as if I'd ever agree to such a thing." **The Kyuubi shot back.

_"Then you get nothing." _Naruto thought simply, then waited. He knew she was curious and would eventually bite. It seemed like an hour passed before she finally replied.

**"Kit."**

_"What?"_

**"I will agree to your conditions if I am allowed to add one of my own."**

_"And what kind of extra thing could you ask of me that you know I won't say no to?" _

**"If I am to stop tormenting you in the form of nightmares and visions, I will lose one of my few forms of entertainment. So my second condition is simple, five times a week you will come into your mindscape and... entertain me. And before you shoot the condition down, no I do not mean in ****_that _****way, though I would not say no to it either." **Naruto didn't have to see her wink to know that was what she was doing.** "What I mean is that you come in here and play a few games with me. Perhaps shogi. Any form of simple game like that will do."**

Naruto debated this for a while. Would playing board games with the Kyuubi really be that bad? In exchange for less nightmares and torment? He knew from his previous deal that she could keep her word...

_"Twice a week."_

**"Four times."**

_"Three. And I will not budge on that. Take it or leave it Kyuubi."_

**" ...Deal."**

**A/N:** So there you go, chapter two. Thanks for sticking around this long despite the multitude of crappy writing presented. Sorry about all the timeskips, I'm going to try to limit those in the future to shorter jumps. Those who can guess which element or element combo Naruto ends up with will get a free random future spoiler! You know, if you're into that sort of thing. But yeah, I'll try to have a new chapter out at least once a month. If work isn't too bad and my inspiration doesn't run off with what's left of my saneity then I'll try to push for two chapters a month. But all in all, no promises, sorry folks. Thanks for sticking through the annoying authors note. If you read the whole thing through then 10 experience points for you. Have a great day/midafternoon/night/whatever.


	3. Chapter 3: I don't want to be

**Disclaimer: I. DO NOT. Own Naruto. **

Chapter 3: I don't want to be...

Naruto stood up, stretched, and then glanced at the clock. Even though it was just after eight, he wasn't worried. He knew he probably had another two hours at least. More than enough time to eat a good breakfast and prepare for the test ahead. After preparing some toast and bacon, Naruto sat down to eat, all the while feeling perturbed. After his dream shaking him up, then striking his deal with the kyuubi, and finally her practically dragging him into his mindscape to have him play shogi with her right after making the deal, Naruto just felt... odd. Shaking his head, he tried to clear his head. He needed to focus if he wanted to come out on top during the test. Finishing his breakfast ad getting dressed, Naruto gathered what he thought he would need then left. He didn't hurry, in fact, he went at a slow deliberate pace. Walking helped him think, and that was what he needed to do. Enjoying his walk, Naruto turned a corner and saw a familiar face.

Smiling, he raised his hand up and called, "Hey Hinata-chan!" Then nearly laughed when the girl practically jumped three feet in the air. Noticing who it was, the Hyuga hurried over, "N-n-naruto-kun! What are you doing here? I thought your t-test was at eight?" Hinata had 'accidentally' run into Naruto at the library yesterday afternoon.

"Knowing Kakashi, I probably have till ten, if not later. You headed to your test?" Naruto asked.

"Uh huh." Hinata nodded.

"Well, I won't keep you. Just remember, teamwork is key." Naruto reminded her.

"Right. G-good luck, Naruto-kun." Hinata said.

"Good luck to you, too, Hinata-chan. We'll go out to eat with our teams to celebrate after we both pass, sound good?"

"Sounds good." She affirmed and then left, turning to wave after a little while. Naruto had explained to her what to expect during the test yesterday when they met up at the library. He didn't feel bad about 'cheating' via dream knowledge. A ninja did what he had to to get the mission done. There was nothing pretty about the job. Naruto finally showed up at the training ground about fifteen after ten and, just like he called it, Kakashi wasn't there.

"Naruto! About time you showed up! You're late!" Sakura yelled at him.

"So? Do you see Kakashi here yet?" Naruto shot back, which caused her to shut up momentarily. "He told us to be here at eight and then made you two wait on purpose. I bet you guys even followed his instructions not to eat breakfast." This made both of them frown, "And you guys call yourselves ninja? A ninja is supposed to see underneath all lies and deception. It's part of our job. Kakashi was giving you your first test yesterday and you guys already failed. So what if you throw up? It better than having nothing on your stomach for a intense survival training test."

"Now just a minute Naruto! What makes you think that-" Sakura started.

"You are correct." Kakashi cut in, appearing behind Sakura and Sasuke, causing them both to jump slightly. "Though I'm surprised, after reading each of your files, I had suspected Sasuke to figure it out, and maybe Sakura. But definitely not you Naruto."

"Well I aim to please. How was the road of life, by the way? I just found my way back from it myself." Naruto replied, causing Kakashi to chuckle.

"I'll have to tell you some other time. For now, we have a test to do." Kakashi said then pulled out a clock with a timer, "This is set for noon." He then pulled out two bells, "Your task is to take these two bells from be before the timer goes off. The person who doesn't get a bell will get no lunch, in fact, I'll tie you to a stump and eat yours in front of you. Also..." Kakashi paused as a more menacing aura surrounded him, "The person who doesn't get a bell fails and gets sent back to the academy." He then returned to normal. "Feel free to use anything you have on you against me. You'll have to come at me with the intent to kill if you want to win."

"But if we do that, we could seriously hurt you!" Sakura complained.

"As if, he's a jounin." Naruto replied.

"Oh? So you acknowledge me then? I think I may be starting to like you guys." Kakashi said, "Ok, let's get going. Ready..."

"Wait a minute." Naruto cut in, "If it's ok, can you explain something to me real quick?" He asked while pulling out a copy of the icha icha book Kakashi was reading the day before. "See, there's something Tiffany does in chapter ten that I just don't understand and it's been bugging me all night. I was hoping you could help cause I saw that you were reading this yesterday..."

"Is this really the time for that Naruto?" Sakura asked angrily, knowing what the book was.

Kakashi, however, eye smiled, "It'll only take a minute Sakura, and there's always time for explanations, especially when concerning a subject as important as... the icha icha series."

"It's the fourth paragraph down." Naruto said while handing the book open to Kakashi.

Kakashi took the book and began reading from where Naruto had indicated. He immediately knew something was up upon reading the first sentence. 'Isn't taking an enemy by surprise a rudimentary strategy for a ninja?' Realizing there was a genjutsu on the book, Kakashi dispelled it with a quick, "Kai!" to reveal a paper bomb in the book, already lit. Kakashi barely had time to enact a replacement with a nearby log before it exploded. _"That sneaky little... I hadn't even said go yet."_ He then looked to where the other two were to find them gone. _"Were they in on it too? No, I would have realized they were acting. Did Naruto get them away in time then?"_

"Naruto! What do you think you are doing!? You could have killed Kakashi sensei!" Sakura yelled at Naruto from the spot he had gotten them to via some replacement with two of his clones.

"Trying to be a ninja. Just so you know, your yelling has alerted him to your position. I suggest you run. Fast." The Naruto clone that was with them said before dispelling.

"Tch!" Sasuke exclaimed before hastily dodging to the right and running off.

"Sasuke wait for me!" Sakura called out before she felt a menacing presence behind her.

"The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well. That includes your voice, Sakura." Kakashi said, disappointed.

Sakura gasped for a second before she was suddenly replaced with another Naruto clone. "You know what? I really like fireworks!" Was all he said before the paper bombs plastered all over him exploded. Kakashi once again had only a split second to replace himself with a log.

Kakashi suddenly found himself in what he knew was a genjutsu. The forest around him was all wrong. Colors were out of place or inverted, trees looked unrealistic or were transparent, rocks moved around, in short, it was the worst genjutsu Kakashi had ever seen. _"You did well with a small one, guess you can't handle bigger ones yet." _Kakashi thought before dispelling the jutsu, only to have everything change. Everything was still wrong, but everything had changed, tree placement, rises in the earth, colors were more jarring and hindered depth perception, etc. _"Layered genjutsu? In such a way as to make it so I can't use my surrounds to my advantage but Naruto can? You are proving to be more and more clever..." _Kakashi then dispelled the genjutsu again, only to find another waiting. After about the twentieth time dispelling, Kakashi was impressed. _"It may be horrible genjutsu, but when there is so many it doesn't even matter. Just how many layers are there? How can he have so much chakra?"_ Kakashi then had to dodge as several shuriken were thrown at him. As he did, Sasuke suddenly rushed him from behind, only to trigger a trap that tied him up with ninja wire and left him hanging by one foot.

"And that." Naruto said while walking out of the inside of the tree, "Is what you get for refusing to accept my help in getting the bells and trying to do it all on your own. Even I'm not stupid enough to think I can take a jounin by myself." He then looked at Kakashi. "You know, we really have our work cut out for us." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him, _"He already knows the purpose of the test? Is this really the last in the class?" _"Whatever. Kai." Naruto continued as he released the genjutsu returning the forest to normal. "Once more onto the bridge and all that." He finished in a sigh then replaced himself with a log. Kakashi then saw that Sasuke had been replaced with a grinning clone of Naruto's as well. It was then that he heard a sizzling noise from below his feet, _"Not again..." _He thought before once more replacing himself with a log.

(With Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura)

"Ok, are you two ready to start working as a team? We don't have much time left before noon." Naruto asked the two that were glaring at him.

"In case you forgot moron, there are only two bells. Why should all three of us work together when one will fail?" Sasuke asked, anger seeping into his voice.

"Yeah. Explain that Mr. Smarty-pants." Sakura agreed, though she was now keeping her voice in check.

"Because, even with all three of us working together getting even a single bell from him will be difficult. Besides, if the two of you are so worried about failing then fine, you two can have the bells. Another year in the academy doesn't bother me. Besides, a ninja often has to put aside personal needs to complete a mission. This is no different. Now are you two ready to do this or not?" Naruto asked, irritated. Even if on the off chance that Kakashi was serious, at the very least he'd get a different team next year. This one sucked!

Naruto saying they could have the bells quieted the pair down. Finally, Sasuke nodded, "Alright, fine. We do it your way. If it fails, I can just fight him myself regardless." _"What an arrogant prick. At least he agreed." _Naruto thought.

"Y-yeah, I guess I'm in." Sakura chimed in.

"Alright. Then here's what we're going to do..."

(12:10 pm)

_"I hate this 'team'..." _Naruto thought, not for the first time that day. After getting the other two to agree to work together, Naruto had put together a brilliant plan, only for the other two to screw it up. Sasuke had decided to do his own thing at the last minute and Sakura, who Naruto tried to get to help him salvage his ruined plan, instead decided it was more important to cheer for Sasuke. The short of it was they ran out of time. _"I revise my previous statement. We don't have our work cut out for us, we've got to freaken write a whole new set of rules to make the three of us a 'team'!" _Kakashi had determined Sasuke and Sakura were both to be tied up, which neither had been happy with.

"Alright, go ahead and eat your lunch Naruto. Sasuke, Sakura, yours are now mine." Kakashi said as he grabbed the two bento's each genin had brought and ate them in an instant so not to reveal his face. As Naruto took out his lunch and began to eat, Kakashi resumed speaking, "Well, there's no need for you guys to go back to the academy."

"Then... then all three of us?" Sakura began to ask, hopeful.

Kakashi eye smiled, "Yup. All three of you... should quit being ninja."

"Wha-why? I mean, I know we couldn't get the bells but why do we have to quit?" Sakura asked.

"Because all of you are just punks who don't deserve to be called ninja." Kakashi seriously replied. At this, Sasuke grew angry and tried to break free of his bonds. "Fight me again! I'll show you who the real ninja is!" Sasuke challenged.

Kakashi just spared him a glance, "That's why you're a punk."

"No! Don't insult my Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out.

Kakashi looked up at her with a glare, "Are you guys underestimating ninjas? Huh? Why do you think you were divided into teams and are doing this training?"

"Huh? What does that mean?" Sakura asked stupidly.

"Basically... you guys are not understanding the answer to the test." Kakashi said.

"Answer?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. The answer that helps you pass this test." Kakashi replied.

"So, when are you going to tell us? Sakura asked.

"Geez..." Kakashi paused then glared at Sakura once more, "It's _teamwork_. The three of you working together may have gotten the bells."

"We tried that!" Sakura spoke up, "But it didn't do us any good!"

"Did you? Did you _actually _work together? All I saw was a lot of ignoring Naruto even when he was the only one who actually got the point behind the test. Sasuke, you decided to try and fight me head on even when Naruto had put together a good plan on getting the bells completely ruining the plan. And you, Sakura, had a chance to salvage what was left of the plan with Naruto but instead yelled at him when he suggested it and then cheered for Sasuke." Kakashi explained.

"Well what's the point!? There are only two bells! Even if we got them one of us would have failed! What teamwork? This test just makes us fight each other!" Sakura yelled.

"Of course! This test is designed for us to fight each other!" Naruto broke in, "That's why I offered to be the one that failed, so that we could possibly pass, but even that didn't work! Sakura, you completely ignored me and Sasuke, you just assumed Sakura and I would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself! The duties of a mission are done by the team. Of course, superior individual ability is important to a ninja, but what's even more important is teamwork!" Naruto ranted.

"What Naruto said was correct. Individual play that disrupts the team can put your teammates in danger and even get you killed. For example..." Kakashi then reappeared next to the tied up Sakura with a kunai to her neck, "Naruto! Kill Sasuke! Or Sakura dies!"

"What!?" Sakura screamed loudly.

"You see?" Kakashi said while walking away leisurely, "If a hostage is taken, you will have tough choices and then die. You will be risking your lives in these duties." Kakashi then began leaving the area, "You guys... I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'm going to make it tougher to get the bells. Naruto, you aren't allowed to give any of your lunch to those two, as punishment for not working as a team with you even after you offered to sacrifice yourself and fail. You give them food and you will immediately fail. I am the rules here, got it?"

"No worries." Naruto said angrily, "As if I'd give these two idiots food after what they did."

"Hey! Who are you calling an idiot Naruto!?" Sakura yelled as Kakashi jumped away.

Naruto ignored her and slowly counted to sixty as he ate sandwiches that he had brought. After which he took out two more and held one out to both Sasuke and Sakura. "What are you doing, moron? Sensei said you can't give us any otherwise you'd fail!" Sakura said.

"Yeah, dobe. What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

"Please, as if I'm not going to fail anyway. There are only two bells remember? Besides, I don't sense Kakashi near and if you two don't eat then you're going to be even more useless than you were before lunch. So? What are you waiting for?" Naruto reasoned.

Sasuke was quiet a long moment before saying through grit teeth, "Thanks." Then taking the sandwich. Sakura soon followed suit with a quiet and angry, "Thanks." Of her own.

Shortly after the two finished their sandwiches and Naruto had just finished his fourth, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere looking as pissed as could be, "YOU GUYS!" He yelled as he charged.

"Ahhhhh!" Sakura screamed. Sasuke didn't make a sound but looked like he was about to piss himself. Naruto... pulled out another sandwich and munched away at it, completely unafraid.

"...Pass." Kakashi finished with an eye smile after skidding to a stop right in front of them.

"Pass!? But why?" Sakura asked.

"You guys are the first. Everyone else would just do what I told them. They were all morons. A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those that break the rules and codes of ninja are trash. But you know what? Those that don't take care of their comrades... are lower than trash." Kakashi then paused looking them over, and once again eye smiled, "That ends the test! All of you pass! Starting tomorrow team seven will begin its duties!"

"Yeah! I did it! I'm a ninja!" Sakura cheered happily.

Sasuke smirked in triumph.

"Alright, let's go." Kakashi said.

"Hell yeah." Naruto replied following.

"Hey! Don't just leave us here!" Sakura yelled.

"Dobe! You better get back here!" Sasuke yelled as well.

As Kakashi and Naruto walked away with the other two yelling constantly, Kakashi spoke up, "I'm curious, Naruto. How is it that you know a forbidden jutsu like the Shadow clone jutsu?"

"It's funny what you learn from listening to the voices to your head." Naruto replied nonchalantly, "And before you freak, the old man knows. I've been training with Kurenai sensei for most of my time since this year's academy started up to keep things under control." Kurenai had gone to the Hokage with what she was doing after about a decent amount of time had passed. She did so with the simple reasoning that no matter how hard they tried to hide it, people would eventually notice what they were doing. That, and it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

"Ah, that explains a lot... Still, I'm impressed you can make so many clones." Kakashi replied.

"Yeah, we figured my larger than normal reserves are due to my tenant. Speaking of clones..." Naruto then made one to go untie the other two. "I really don't look forward to working with those two..."

"When life gives you lemons..." Kakashi said simply.

"Screw that. I didn't ask for lemons. What am I supposed to do with these?! Where's life's manager? I demand he take them back! Life will rue the day it gave Naruto Uzumaki lemons! Doesn't it know who I am? I'm the man who's going to burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm going to train my ass off and create a jutsu that makes lemons combustible that burns your house down!" Naruto ranted getting a laugh out of Kakashi. "Well, at least I know I have one interesting student. I'll see you tomorrow." Kakashi said and then shushined away.

(Flashback)

**"Four times."**

_"Three. And I will not budge on that. Take it or leave it Kyuubi."_

**" ...Deal. Now tell me what you know."**

Naruto paused for a second before answering, _"It wasn't a dream."_

**"What?"**

_"What we saw, even though we both know it was a dream, I wouldn't call it that. It felt too real. WAS too real to be a dream. I think it was a vision of the future. Something that _could_ happen."_ Naruto explained.

**"Impossible. You will never be strong enough to take control of me and my chakra, especially in your current state. That you we saw wasn't any older than you were." **The Kyuubi said in denial.

_"And yet, I know you saw the same thing I did when you looked at that other me. You saw the seal destroyed, yourself in chains, the other me's spirit holding you by the throat, and him commanding you to give up all of your chakra by force. The other me defeated you. And we both know why, I think." _

**"What, because of the Hyuga whelp? Ridiculous, the resulting rage from her death would only guarantee I take over, not the opposite." **

_"Except the opposite did happen. That other me used his rage to defeat you and then used you to destroy Konoha." _

**"All idle speculation based on what you think happened, none of-" **The kyuubi began but was then cut off.

_"It's not idle speculation. I _know _that's what happened." _Naruto cut in.

**"Kit, do not play with me. Just because you think it was a vision of the future doesn't-" **The kyuubi began but was once more cut off.

_"You wanted to know what I knew about that dream. Well I'm telling you. That, even though we saw it in dream form, was what happened. What is going to happen, unless I change it. I've had enough dreams about other me's to know now that other worlds exist and I can somehow see them when I sleep. But that? That wasn't another world. That was ours. It isn't idle speculation or just a gist of a feeling that makes me say this. I. Just. Know." _Naruto said resolutely.

The kyuubi paused for a moment before once again speaking, **"... Interesting. You just know. Very interesting indeed. Now tell me, what are these other dreams you have about other you's?" **

_"... You mean you haven't noticed me taking notes about them or, I don't know... LEARNING JUTSU FROM THEM?!" _

**"As if I have nothing better to do but devote all my time to watching every little thing you do every second of every day. Believe it or not, I do have other things to take up my time, even in here." **The kyuubi replied indignantly.

_"Like what?"_ Naruto asked.

**"Sleeping, for one. I need my beauty sleep after all. And grooming myself takes quite a bit of time as well. Believe it or not." **

_"You've got to be kidding me..." _

(End Flashback)

"N-naruto?"

Hinata's voice brought Naruto back from his sudden trip down memory lane. "Hmm? What is it Hinata-chan?"

"Kiba asked you a question, b-but you were zoned out and didn't answer..." She replied.

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry about that Kiba, I got a little lost in thought there. What did you ask?"

"I asked if being on a team with both Sasuke and Sakura is as annoying as it sounds." Kiba replied.

"Oh man, you have no idea! Sasuke acts just like he did at the academy, like he's better than everyone else and that he's got a stick up his ass. And Sakura just makes things worse with all her yelling and her 'Sasuke can do no wrong' attitude. I wish I had ended up on you guys' team." Naruto complained. After passing the bell test, he had asked his two teammates if they wanted to go out to eat to celebrate. Sasuke had replied with a, "As if I'd go out in public with a loser like you." And Sakura chased after him asking him to go out with her. Giving up on his two teammates, Naruto had sought out Hinata and her team. They, of course, had passed with a little help from Hinata. Now they were all at one of the few restaurants that would serve Naruto, a small cafe on the edge of the village. The four of them now sat at a booth awaiting their orders, Kiba and Shino on one side and Naruto and Hinata on the other.

"Hey man, you've got all my sympathy. I wouldn't want to be on your team for any reason." Kiba replied.

"I agree with my teammates sentiment and also offer my most heartfelt sympathy towards your predicament." Shino said.

"Thanks guys. If I'm lucky, Kakashi will be as lazy as they say he is and will leave me to train on my own. I was hoping I could train with you guys if that turn out to be the case. That ok with you?" Naruto asked Kiba and Shino.

"I have no problem with that suggestion, indeed, it could be most beneficial to all." Shino said.

"Yeah, I've no problem with you training with us as long as Kurenai sensei doesn't. By the way, why don't you call your instructor sensei, Naruto?" Kiba asked.

"Ah, well I mean no disrespect to Kakashi, but I'm not going to call him sensei till he actually teaches me something I don't know." Naruto replied.

"Well, how did your test go? I hear that it was thanks to you Hinata had a good idea what to do during ours. It really helped us out big time." Kiba asked.

"Where do I start? Those two are so stubborn in refusing to work as a team we almost failed. I managed to get through to them in the end but..." Naruto began as he told what happened during the bell test. Despite all that had happened, though, things were looking up. He was finally a ninja, even if on a sucky team. He was friends with Hinata and it looked like he would soon be friends with her teammates as well, both people that didn't really do any wrong to him while in the academy. Hinata was no longer under the scrutiny of her father. And even if his own appointed 'sensei' didn't teach him anything, he could always train under Kurenai sensei. Naruto enjoyed spending the afternoon chatting it up with Hinata and her team. And soon found himself walking her home.

"Hey, Hinata-chan." Naruto asked her.

"Hm?"

"Isn't there something in the village rules that says that any ninja has a right to a home? Or at least something like that. It was hard to read those law books when I tried. But I'll go give them another look next time I'm in the library. Cause if that's true, you should look into getting your own place! You could get away from your so called family and just be you! It'd be great!" Naruto said excitedly.

"That'd be nice... But I d-don't know if my clan would allow it. I'd have to ask..." Hinata said sadly. They both knew what her father would say if she did.

"Well I'm going to look in the law books anyway. If you have a right to, you should take advantage of it." Naruto said then frowned as they came up to the Hyuga compound. "I hate having to leave you in this place."

"I don't really like it either... but what c-can I do?" Hinata asked.

Naruto smiled, "We can prolong the inevitable if you want and go look up those laws right now. Your father doesn't care what you do, now that he's focused on your sister, right? So that should mean you have no curfew. What do you say?"

"I'd like that." Hinata replied.

"Then let's go!" Naruto said as he grabbed Hinata's hand and sped off towards the library, not failing to notice her deep blush when he glanced back at her once while running. _"I may have just been fooling myself before, or maybe I was afraid of what it would mean. But that vision in my dreams confirmed what I already knew. I _like_ Hinata-chan. And there is no way I'm going to just stand by and watch her get hurt like I have in the past. Now I can do something for her. Now, I'm a ninja!" _Naruto thought with confidence and determination. If the law books didn't have an answer, he'd go to the Hokage and force him to do something about Hinata-chan's situation. He refused to let her stay in that compound any longer than she had to!

(Later that night...)

Naruto looked completely crestfallen as he walked Hinata home. Their trip to the library had been entirely unfruitful. Apparently there was a sub clause that overrided the ninja's right to home within the village proper if certain clan laws from specific clans were in effect. Unfortunately, that was exactly the case with Hinata. She was sad to learn of it, but at least things at home should be easier from now on. At the moment, she was more concerned with cheering up her blonde friend.

"Naruto-kun, it's ok. I'll b-be fine." Hinata said in a weak attempt to reassure him.

"I know, Hinata-chan. But I want you to be better than fine. I want you to finally be free of your families clutches. I promise to talk to the Hokage first thing in the morning. I'm not going to rest till we have you out of that compound, ok?" Naruto said with conviction.

"A-alright, and... thank you." Hinata replied. She really didn't want him to waste time on her, but she knew from that tone that nothing would stop him at this point. That, and she really wanted out of the compound herself. Looking up, Hinata saw her home coming into view. _"Ok. Now's my chance. I'm a ninja now. That makes me more confident. I can do anything! Come on, Hinata. Tell him how you feel!" _Hinata inwardly ranted to herself in a petty attempt to raise her self confidence enough to confess to the boy walking next to her. It hadn't taken long after she had started hanging out with Naruto to realize she liked him as something more than a friend. But it was all the time spent with him after that realization that liking him turned into loving him. She had tried again and again to tell him how she felt, to no avail and had eventually settled on the promise to herself to do it once she became a real ninja. Now that she was though... well saying something and actually doing something are two completely different things.

"I'll... I'll try to make some time to hang out with you tomorrow, ok?" Naruto said, still dejected. Hinata didn't realize they had made it nearly to the compound itself. Naruto always left just a bit before to avoid creating problems.

"O-ok..." Hinata replied weakly. Seeing the boy that she admired so much look so down and depressed broke her heart. Before she knew what she was doing, she reacted to the sight, "... and Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?" He replied sadly.

Hinata then darted in and kissed him on the cheek, "Ch-cheer up ok?" The dumbfounded look and growing blush on Naruto's face would have made her giggle if she wasn't busy trying to keep a blush of her own from getting out of control. "S-see you t-tomorrow." She managed out before running into her compound, head racing a mile a minute. _"Oh kami, did I just kiss Naruto!? What was I thinking?! Where did that even come from!? What if he didn't like it? Or what if that blush was really just him getting angry? I'll never be able to show my face to him again! Ooooooh!" _She continue to rant to herself as she continued through the compound, the whole time sporting a deep red blush of her own. She was stopped short, and her rantings immediately cut off, by a cold, hard voice.

"Hinata-_sama_." The voice said with sarcasm and hate, "Your father and the council wish to speak with you. Now. They are displeased you decided to stay out so late."

Her blood now running cold, Hinata turned to see that the one addressing her was none other than Neji Hyuga. Her cousin and rising member of the branch family. Also, her father's second most favored, next to Hinabi.

Trying to keep the fear out of her voice, Hinata responded, "Of course. I shall go to them immediately." Then turned to go before Neji replied.

"I was given strict instructions to see you there myself as soon as you got in. Shall we, Hinata-_sama_?" Neji replied.

Nodding weakly, Hinata then followed her cousin through the compound. _"What now? I thought he was done with me? For the love of kami, _what now?!" Hinata thought as Neji lead her to one of the more secluded private meeting chambers. One of the few that could hold all that would be attending. Finally arriving, Hinata felt her heart sink. Her father and the entire Hyuga council were all in attendance. And all had glares for the ex-heir as she entered the room with a bow and addressed her father.

"Y-you asked f-f-for me father?" Hinata said as she took her spot at the end of the gathering, right where all could see her clearly.

Hiashi glared at her as he replied, "You certainly took to your new liberties as a ninja quite quickly, daughter. Even though I need not say it, you kept us waiting for quite a while." At this Hinata flinched. She knew that she'd be punished for staying out late. "But it is no longer my responsibility to see you punished for such an action. It is now councilman's Renga's duty." Hiashi continued, motioning to one of the older council members. One well know to be downright cruel to the branch house and any he saw as underneath him, which included most of the Hyuga clan itself. At Hiashi's revelation, Hinata looked in shock at Renga before looking back at her father.

"W-w-what d-do you mean, father?" She asked in shock.

"This meeting is to inform you as well as make final the decision of this good council. Daughter," Hiashi spat the word out as if it carried a bad taste, "you have been a dishonor to the name Hyuga. A failure and a disgrace. Councilman Renga was chosen to see if there is any chance to make you respectable. He will oversee your training when you are not training with your team. You will answer to him and do everything that he says. Know this daughter, if you continue to fail, continue to be weak, continue to be a disgrace to the main house and the name Hyuga, you will be disowned and sent to the branch house. You shinobi career will end, and you will be given duties within the compound befitting one such as you. The next month will serve as the testing period. We shall see at the end of it if you are worthy to remain a main house member. That is all. Leave us. Now." Hiashi commanded.

Feeling sick to her stomach, Hinata numbly stood, bowed, and left on shaky feet. As she exited the room and closed the door behind her, she saw Neji waiting just outside, smiling in a very evil way at her. "It's only a matter of time now, Failure." Was all he said before leaving. That did it for the poor girl, she ran to her room with tears in her eyes. Once there, she cried herself to sleep hoping that when she awoke, all of this would be but a bad dream. Of course, she knew deep down that this wasn't a dream. This was reality. And she was about to lose her one chance at freedom. _"Naruto..." _Was the last anguished thought of the ex-heiress before she finally succumbed to the night's embrace.

(3 Weeks Later...)

It's funny how fast things can go downhill. One minute you're at the top of the world, with all of life's best to offer in front of you, and nothing can go wrong. Then you have your hands tied behind your back and your feet bound together and you're forced to watch your best friend be beaten for three weeks on a nearly daily basis. Sure the beatings weren't as bad as they had been under her bastard of a father's care, mostly just very rough spars, but the sheer number of times it happened in the name of training and the amount of verbal abuse was too much. Naruto was at his limit. He had tried going to the Hokage to no avail. Even Kurenai had made her case, Hinata was in her team after all. But Renga was as slimy a politician as they came and managed to get on the in with the civilian council when Kurenai took up her case in the shinobi courts. The end result was there was nothing she nor the Hokage could do. The best Kurenai could come up with was training Hinata as much as she could herself to make sure she passed her 'examination' at the end of the month. Kiba and Shino hadn't complained and had even been on board for it once the situation was explained to them. But being constantly put down, degraded, and beaten at home didn't help her resolve. Even Naruto's presence didn't do much for the poor girl anymore. Naruto knew Hinata's team put on a brave face for her and did all that they could, but it wasn't enough. The Hyuga council would put her in a match against her sister or even Neji and she would take a verbal beating and then lose. With that she would be branded and stripped from the shinobi ranks. Naruto couldn't let that happen. He had put his brain into overdrive to find a solution since the news three weeks ago but still could find nothing realistic. It pissed him off.

"RRRRRHH! You're going down you damn cat! Water Style! Wild Water Wave Jutsu!" Naruto yelled in anger before raising his hand to his mouth to funnel the stream of water emerging at high velocity, cutting down several trees.

In the interest of making Hinata stronger, Kurenai had checked to see what her nature affinity was, along with the rest of her team and Naruto, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the girl's main affinity was wind. This allowed Kurenai to get her good friend Asuma in on the training. And while actual wind elemental training took years to master, Asuma had managed to teach Hinata Wind Style: Air Bullets, giving the girl a ranged attack. Kurenai hoped it would give Hinata an edge, but Naruto was doubtful. While Hinata had been a wind user, it turned out Naruto had been a water type. When he had found out, it had only added to his already growing frustration. Of all five of the elements he could have gotten, he got the one he wanted the least. Sure, water was one of the most versatile of the five basic chakra natures, if not the most versatile. But why couldn't it have been Earth? Or Fire? Hell, even wind like Hinata would have been awesome. But no. He got stuck with freaken lame ass water. At least he had managed to get Kakashi to teach him Water Style: Wild Water Wave and from that, and some dream knowledge, he had managed to figure out Water Style: Liquid Bullet as well.

The falling trees ended up creating a cage around Tora, who had been evading the blond and his team for a good part of thirty minutes. After the trees fell, a Naruto clone used another Wild Water Wave, weaker this time, to pin the cat in place while several other Naruto's jumped in and tied the cat up.

"Naruto! What are you doing!? Trying to kill that poor cat!?" Sakura said while pointing to Tora, which now was nothing more than a head and tail sticking out of a ball of rope shivering constantly.

"That hell spawn deserves to be offed! The ONLY reason I don't do the world a favor and end it's horrible existence now is because I won't get paid if I do!" Naruto yelled back, his control on his temper had been slipping the closer Hinata's exam got. Now it was pretty much gone. They hadn't done this mission before, but one of the few constants in all his dreams was that Tora was evil and merciless. That and he needed something to vent his anger on.

"What are you talking about? Did you get hit in the head or something? You're saying crazier stuff than usual." Sakura said, still upset at the blonde. Sasuke just glared at him. Ever since the bell test, the Uchiha had been trying to upstage Naruto at every turn. Only for the Uzumaki to shrug off his attempts or upstage him in turn. Now that Naruto was a water user, the Uchiha hated him even more. Ok, that was one good thing about using the stupid element. At least he could take out any of Sasuke's fire jutsu easily now.

"Good job, Naruto. Once again, you shown an insight into the true situation and reacted accordingly." Kakashi said as he appeared next to the group.

"What? You can't be serious, Kakashi sensei! It's just a cat." Sakura reasoned.

"It is a menace to society, Sakura." Kakashi said simply. "Now let's go report in to the Mission Office and call it a day."

Making it to the Mission Office with only minor grumbling and arguments, Team Seven made their way out of the Hokage's tower and into the street proper.

"Ok team, the rest of the day is a self train day. I have important things to take care of." Kakashi said, then pulled out his icha icha book and walked away, giggling perversely as he did.

This suited Naruto just fine. Today wasn't a regular training day for Hinata's team, so she was stuck in the hell hole of a compound. Her being stuck there and him not being able to not do a thing about it put Naruto very close to the edge. The other side of said edge involving a LOT of paper bombs and the Hyuga compound, after rescuing Hinata of course. He had almost done so already on numerous occasions, consequences be damned. But every time had either managed to stop himself or be stopped by a friend nearby.

Turning to jump away and head to the most remote training ground he could find, Naruto was stopped by Sasuke, "Hey dobe."

Turning, Naruto asked through grit teeth. "What."

"Today is a free train day, let's spar. It's time I put a loser like you in your place." Sasuke said.

On one hand, having the Uchiha as a punching bag would do wonders for Naruto's stress. On the other, he wasn't sure if he had enough self control to not kill the Uchiha in the process. So he opted for the smarter choice, even if his rage, and the kyuubi, screamed at him to do otherwise, "Not today Sasuke. I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with your arrogant ass today."

"Naruto! What have I told you about calling Sasuke bad names!" Sakura exploded.

This only caused Naruto to turn on her and yell with rage, "SHUT UP! I have even less time to hear shit about your precious kami damned Sasuke!" He yelled at her with such rage that he made the girl jump back in shock. He also caused the street to go silent and have everyone in it look at him. _"Oh for the love of..." _Naruto mentally face-palmed before Shunshining away in anger. Much to the displeasure of Sasuke and Sakura. Making his way to a far, out of the way, training ground, Naruto made one thousand clones. "One hundred to stupid control. One hundred to retardedly hard Genjutsu. One hundred to lame water elemental training. The rest, today we finally master the bloody Rasengan. Sound good?" Naruto barked out in anger. Getting several angry replies of affirmation in return, Naruto then began running at top speed around the grounds. After his second lap, however, he stopped with the thought. _"I should have enough for some more..." _Making fifty more clones, Naruto gave them the instructions to set up ambushes for him all throughout the route around the grounds. _"Maybe beating myself senseless will help take my mind off things. Nothing else does!" _

**"You could always come in here. I guarantee I can help take your mind off things." **The Kyuubi suddenly spoke up. She had been happier and happier as the situation with Hinata had progressed. But she knew that without her adding the flair of constant horrible visions and nightmares, Naruto wouldn't break and give in to his anger. Sure, he was angry, but all his training let him keep it in check, even under these conditions.

_"No." _Naruto instantly shot back as he stood waiting, giving his clones time to set up.

**"Oh? Not even curious as to why I offer to help?" **The fox asked.

_"When I said 'No.' it wasn't an answer to your question. It was a 'No. I'm not dealing with your crap today so shut up and leave me alone so I can stew in my own juices.' no. Got it!?" _Naruto angrily replied.

**"So touchy, what's the matter little Naru-chan? You know, there is a way to make sure your precious little Hyuga has the confidence to win regardless who she fights." **The Kyuubi baited.

This made Naruto pause. He knew it was just another trick from the fox, but he was at his wits end and was getting desperate. _"What is it?"_

**"Simple, really. You like her. And even if you're too dense to realize it, she likes you." **The Kyuubi said before she was interrupted by Naruto.

_"You have no proof of that!" _He said in denial.

**"Uh huh. As if her making the first move by kissing you on the cheek really wasn't a dead giveaway. Even if she hadn't done that, it was painfully obvious she had tried several time to confess to you before. You're just too wrapped up in denial because the idea of anyone liking you in 'that way' is just too much to take in after all you've been through." **The Kyuubi reasoned mercilessly.

_"... Even if you're right, you still haven't told me this big plan of yours." _

**"It's simple really, confess to her... then bang her like a rabbit. That'd boost her confidence so much she would smile as they beat her and laugh when they try to bring her down with silly name calling and verbal degrading." **The Kyuubi said perversely and without a bit of shame.

_"I- Wha- That- You just- No! I could never do that!"_Naruto mentally sputtered as he was caught off guard.

**"Well yeah, of course you couldn't... as a virgin. But you are in luck, for I am in a very generous mood and would gladly help you fix that little problem." **

Much to Naruto's shame, he actually stopped to consider what the Kyuubi was suggesting. He did like Hinata, and if confessing would bring her the confidence she needed he'd gladly do it. But would confessing alone really be enough? Would he have to go that extra step as the Kyuubi suggested? Of course he wouldn't take the Kyuubi up on her devirginization offer. But with Hinata... She was so cute and beautiful and shy... Naruto then punched himself as hard as he could in the forehead, instantly clearing his head. _"Wow, I must really be getting desperate if I'm considering something like THAT!"_

**"Ahhhhh... is that a no? Come on Naruto-kun. I love you and want you to do me like a jackhammer!" **The Kyuubi said in a perfect imitation of Hinata's voice, causing Naruto to start a nosebleed.

He instantly zoned the Kyuubi out and began running. What she had suggested was tempting, but was not the way to go about this. Naruto knew he could figure out a solution. He just had to keep a level head. He'd really have to thank the Kyuubi later though, she really helped him forget about all his anger even if she wasn't trying to.

(3 and a Half Hours Later...)

Naruto stood in the middle of the training grounds, now covered in various sized craters, and stared at the spiraling ball of chakra in his hand. It had only taken roughly three months of clone training time for him to get the damned move down completely, but he had. Sure he would need to train with the move more so he could do it reliably with either hand at a reasonable speed, but at least now he could perform the frustratingly hard jutsu. Naruto popped the first clone that had gotten it down completely, and then gathered all his remaining clones, including the ones doing other things, and had set up a mad free for all. The only rules: only Taijutsu and the Rasengan where allowed. The result was a nasty explosion filled battle of a lot of angry Naruto's as the real one took all the information in. It had been very educational. He now had a decent idea how to use it in combat, it's range, and how it would react when it hit itself. But that didn't give him the answer to the question that had made its way into his head soon after the battle had been completed. How was he going to turn this into something stronger with water? He had seen in his dreams several different versions of the 'completed' Rasengan. The most common was a wind version, which also seemed to be the most powerful out of any of them he had seen. He had also seen several lightning and fire versions as well, both very powerful and useful, even the occasional earth. He had even seen some rare ones: ice, wood, and lava versions. But he had never seen a water variant. He just had to be stuck with the weak element on the wheel. At least he would have had a decent idea where to begin if he was any of the other elements, but not water.

Getting frustrated with another situation where he had no idea what to do brought back all his previous anger and frustration about Hinata's situation. With the sudden influx of emotion, Naruto charged and slammed the Rasengan into the nearest tree, blowing apart the majority of its trunk and felling it easily. Frowning, Naruto began walking back to the village. Even after three hours of picking apart the situation with a clear head, he couldn't come up with a way out. There was still plenty of time left to train, the sun was giving off its last rays, but Naruto didn't care. He wasn't in the mood to train. Heading back into the village, Naruto slowly made his way back to his apartment, not even caring when his stomach growled. He had planned on eating at Ichiraku's, hoping seeing Teuchi and Ayame would lift his spirits. But now he wasn't hungry, not even for ramen from their stand, nor was he in the mood to even see them. All Naruto wanted right now was a moment to himself where he wasn't worrying about anything. Simple peace. Not what he was feeling right now- anger that was so strong he had to fight every second to control, shame that he couldn't do anything to help his friend, and weariness. A weariness that comes from always being on the short side of the stick, always getting kicked when you're down, always being spit on and ridiculed. Naruto had a life time of these experiences weighing on him, and with Hinata's problems piling on top, he didn't know how much more he could take.

The sun had long since set by the time Naruto made it back to his apartment. He had walked all the way back, taking as long as he could. While he wanted to have his moment of peace by himself, his feelings conflicted because he also didn't want to be alone. Plodding up the steps to the second floor, Naruto was so out of it that he didn't notice the noise he had ignored to be sobbing. That noise became painfully obvious, however, when Naruto saw who was making it. A sobbing Hinata huddled against the door to Naruto's apartment. Naruto froze at the sight of his friend and what he saw made his blood run cold. Hinata was battered and bruised, the loose white sparing outfit she was in was torn and dirty. The thing that made Naruto freeze though, he had unfortunately seen Hinata pretty banged up before, was the very noticeable red stain stemming from the crotch of her pants. _"No... Not her... please kami, not her..." _Naruto thought before a single word quietly escaped his lips, "...Hi-hinata-chan?"

At the sound of her name being called, Hinata's head shot up. The look on her face almost made Naruto break down right there. Her left eye was bruised shut. Her lower lip split and badly swollen as though it had been struck several times, hard. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst part was her expression. Pain was painted all over her face as if a master of the craft had taken his brush and created his most sorrowful piece. Shame was there as well, a deep unrelinquishing shame like a torrential downpour of the strongest rainstorm. What cut into Naruto the most was the amount of fear on her face. Not just fear of whoever had done the unspeakable act to her, but the fear of rejection. As soon as Hinata saw Naruto, she became afraid. Afraid he wouldn't be able to accept her after what had happened to her. Afraid no one would. It was that fear on her face coupled with the loss of the innocent spark in her eyes, that hit Naruto like a wave of the coldest ice water. The only thing that allowed him to move and grab her shoulder was that as soon as she saw Naruto, and looked at him in fear, she immediately gathered herself to run. Naruto was not about to let her go, not now. As soon as he grabbed her shoulder, Hinata flinched, froze up, and looked at Naruto with fear.

"Hinata-chan, it's ok. I'm here." Naruto said as comforting as he could manage as he enveloped her in a hug. He knew the last thing she would want right now is male contact, but he also knew she needed a shoulder to cry on more. Hinata shuddered, and whimpered a little as his hug included bruised and sore spots, but she quickly sagged against the blonde, crying. As Naruto held the weeping girl, he silently made a shadow clone, which opened the door to his apartment and helped Naruto maneuver the two of them inside. Naruto looked at the clone who nodded in return. He knew what Hinata would need right now- a good cry, someone to talk to, and a shower and fresh change of clothes. Naruto managed to get Hinata over to his one small couch before she lost control of her legs due to her crying. "I'm here, Hinata-chan. I'm here. It's ok, I'm not going to leave or think less of you. This wasn't your fault." Naruto said as soothing as he could. Once Naruto implied he knew what happened, Hinata looked up, "N-n-naruto-k-kun, y-you mean y-y-you?"

"Yes. I know what happened. I know because... because the same thing has happened to me before." Naruto said quietly. Hinata's one good eye widened at this revelation though her tears didn't stop. Naruto then pulled her back to her shoulder slowly, "Shhhhh... it's ok. I've got you." Naruto said as Hinata's leaking dam holding back the bulk of her emotions broke. As she wailed at the top of her lungs due to what had been done to her, Naruto began to cry as well, only silently. His best friend. The girl he loved. Raped. Raped at the hands of her so called family. Raped while he sat around with his thumbs up his ass and did nothing. These thoughts grew in Naruto's head as he held the crying Hyuga. With them, grew his rage and shame. He should have been there! Should have stopped it! Should have done something! Anything! Should have made Kurenai, no, the Hokage do something! If only he was Hokage! Then he could have stopped this! Could have MADE the kami accursed Hyuga do as he said! And killed anyone that said otherwise!

With the mention of the word Hokage, Naruto's thoughts took a turn, _"So this is it? THIS is what I get to look forward to as Hokage!? Having no power over the individual clans that make up this village? Or over a fucking CIVILIAN council in a SHINOBI village!? Being forced to sit and watch as children are beaten and raped?! What good is being Hokage if you can't even stop one tragedy like this! With the way the shit laws are in the village, the ones responsible in the clan will probably get away with this too!" _As Naruto ranted in his head, with each line his rage grew. Rage that he had been holding in and building all this time bubbled to the surface once more. The Kyuubi was silent as she felt the sheer force of her containers rage grew to a point that made even her uneasy, the memory of their shared 'dream' fresh in her mind. She merely gathered herself, waited, and watched. With his rage overflowing and a pain in his heart so sharp it made Naruto cry even more, the blond ninja took a deep breath in. A breath one takes before plunging into battle you can't win, before screaming one's lungs out to the point where you pass out, before killing something you love. Naruto held this breath as his rage consumed him. Then, in an instant, something broke inside the blonde. Something he didn't know was there. His dream, something that meant more to him than he realized, shattered. A little of Naruto Uzumaki died that night while holding his one true friend. Then from the gaping, bleeding hole, something new emerged. And with it, so did an aim. _"... if being Hokage means you can't save one innocent little girl from an evil bastard... then I don't want to be Hokage... ever." _That one simple thought, that one uncomplicated, painful, liberating, and enslaving thought, changed Naruto. He now knew what he had to do.

It was time to leave Konoha.

**A/N: Chapter three up and it hasn't even been a month since I published this thing. I blame my brain. It won't let me sleep. All it does is spew more ideas for this crappy fanfic. So I write and write and write. But y'all like that sort of thing don't you? Anyway, I decided I would just post chapters when I finish them and my Beta cleans them up (Special thanks to her btw /wonk). Instead of keeping them and have a buffer built up so I can post something each month. So y'all will just have to accept the fact there will be months where I post a lot, and some where I may not post at all. Soooooooo, no one guessed Naruto's element correctly. But, only one person guessed at all so TigrezzTail will get the first place prize anyway. Cause what's the use of producing prizes if you don't give them to people? More guessing games will certain appear in the future, so be ready. Also, I'm curious, did anyone see Naruto and Hinata defecting from Konoha? At all? Maybe? Whatever, I'm off to go write chapter four. Till then, watch out for the second monkey. He's EVERYWHERE.**

**P.S. - I don't feel bad I didn't meet the 10k word per chapter goal I set for myself. Nope, didn't cheat you guys out of what you deserve or anything. Not a shred of guilt. Not a bit... Ok! I'm sorry! I'll try better next time! It was only about 300 words short! You can forgive me for that, right!? Right!? ...right?...**


	4. Chapter 4: No Turning Back

Disclaimer: Naruto is not owned by me.

Chapter 4: No Turning Back

Naruto continued to hold the despondent Hinata, her loud cries still going strong, but he was no longer crying. He could morn for his friends loss later. His out of control, exploding rage was gone as well. Now only one thing was welling up inside the young shinobi- a cold, grim, resolute anger. One that made his head clear and his mind sharp. He was going to leave Konoha that night and Hinata with him. He knew it would be the worst possible situation. Hinata was an emotional wreck meaning he would literally have to carry her. Once word he had become a missing-nin became known, the civilian council would see this as a chance to finally get rid of 'the demon' and send their very best hunters after them. Hell, they may even put the whole 'the demon kidnapped the princess' spin on the situation and be able to send more than the regular amount of hunters after them. There was also the Hyuga clan to consider. They would more than likely demand to have their own hunters in with the group, so any chance at having genjutsu aid Naruto's and Hinata's escape would be gone. Plus, Naruto wasn't sure how Hiashi would react exactly. Hinata was an unsealed main house member, so he knew the Hyuga's would want her back to keep their precious bloodline to themselves. But would they just recover her? Would they have a kill on sight order? Naruto didn't know. But he didn't care. Konoha had done its worst to him since day one. Let it send their best hunters and even Hyuga after them. Naruto was determined to get away.

His brain going a mile a minute, Naruto began to try and think of every way to stall the hunter ninja that would be sent after them. The key to the two of them escaping would be getting enough time to get as far away as possible. If they got far enough away, Naruto was sure he could find a small village to stay a day or two so Hinata could rest and recover. She would need it after what happened and being on the run wouldn't help. It could even make her mental state worse. He hoped he could let her rest enough to help with their evasion of the hunters with her Byakugan. With that they would have a chance. But that was their only real chance. And it was up to Naruto to get them that far. Naruto held Hinata till her wails quieted down to sobs. By then, a good hour, if not more, had passed. He knew she needed more time, but they didn't have it. He didn't know how long Hinata had been away from her compound and he knew she had a curfew. He didn't even know how she got out of her compound unseen.

"Hinata-chan." Naruto said quietly, "I know you don't want to move, don't want to think, but I need to ask you something." Hinata continued to cry, but she nodded. Despite his determination, Naruto found it hard to ask Hinata if she wanted to run away with him. He knew the answer, but that didn't change the fact that Hinata grew up here. Naruto had killed his one biggest dream in his decision to leave, and it had left him with an empty feeling inside him. He didn't want to do the same to the already hurting Hinata. But he knew he had no choice. "Hinata-chan... do you want to run away with me? Away from Konoha, and your family, forever?"

The question made Hinata look up at Naruto in surprise, "W-w-what?" She managed out.

"Konoha doesn't deserve to have you, or me, for a shinobi. What has it even done for us? A life of ridicule? Of pain? Of degradation? A life where even if we try to change our fate, we're shut down time and time again by everyone and anyone?" Naruto tried to keep his bitterness out of his voice, but some crept through. Noticing this, he softened his tone so not to scare the girl in his arms, "No... they don't deserve us. Do you want to go back to your clan?" Hinata's face became one of fear once more and buried her head back into the boys chest, tears once more wetting his shirt, "I don't want you to either. But if we stay, you'll have to go back. The courts will be paid off, any punishment to whoever is responsible won't happen, and we'll be back were we started... Run away with me Hinata-chan. Let's leave this horrible place and find a better one. A place where we can both be happy." Hinata mumbled something indiscernible into Naruto's chest, "What? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you..."

Hinata looked up once more, tears streaming from her one good eye, and grabbed the front of Naruto's shirt, "P-please. T-take me away from h-h-here. I n-n-never want t-to come b-b-back. I ha-hate this place. Ha-ha-hate it..." Hinata pleaded.

Naruto pulled her close as she began crying again, "I will. No matter what I will." Naruto promised. Taking a breath, he spoke again, "If we're going to leave, we don't have a lot of time. I know it would be better just to cry and let it all out, but we don't have that luxury right now."

"O-o-o-ok." Hinata stuttered out and sniffed, trying to contain her tears. The sight made Naruto's heart ache. Hinata was trying to be strong despite what had happened to her. Strength Naruto certainly didn't have after the first time he had been in this situation. He had curled up under a dumpster in a back alley for almost a week before he finally ventured out to find food. Noticing his clone nod at him from the bathroom door, Naruto spoke once more, "I got the bathroom set up, some clothes ready, and some salves and bandages. You can clean yourself up. Don't worry about hurrying, I know I said we're short on time, but there are things I need to go take care of-" Naruto said but was cut off by Hinata grabbing his shirt tighter, "N-no, p-p-please don't leave m-m-me."

"Hinata-chan, relax. It's ok. I'm going to be right here. I promise. I just meant I need to prepare what I can for our journey ahead. All you have to do is yell and I'll be right to you in an instant, ok?" Naruto explained.

"O-o-ok." Hinata said, then winced as Naruto helped her stand up. After the door to the bathroom was closed, Naruto got to work. First he got a quick change of clothes on, the ones he was wearing now wet and slightly bloody. Next, he made ten shadow clones.

"We all know what we need to do. Everyone breaks into the shinobi weapons and gear supply. Five stay to load up what they can. The others grab storage scrolls then hit the library, that small flower clinic, general good store, and grocery store. Remember, we get caught now and everything is ruined." They nodded and then leapt out his window. Naruto then made another ten clones, "Pave the way." Was all that he said before they too nodded and jumped out of his window. Naruto finally headed for his room to gather what he would need for the days ahead. He had chosen his path. Now he had to walk it.

(The next day, 7:30 a.m.)

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat at his desk and sighed. By the height of the stacks of papers needing attention, it was already shaping up to be a long day. Downing his coffee, the old Hokage had just picked up the first sheet of paper on the stack when the door to his office burst open revealing his secretary. Breathing heavily, the young woman quickly began talking, "Hokage-sama! I'm sorry for the intrusion, but there is an urgent matter that needs your attention immediately! The Uzumaki kid has a large area around his apartment sealed off with a modified Barrier Encampment Jutsu! He's going to blow up everything!" She said, almost in hysterics.

"Calm down! What about Naruto?" The Hokage said alert in an instant.

"The kid is threatening to set off all the explosive tags if you don't come talk to him. Please Hokage-sama, you must go now!"

"Very well." The Hokage replied before leaping out his open window and across rooftops. He was soon near the edge of the barrier his secretary had described, a large crowd near but not at its edge due to a few shinobi and ANBU keeping them back. Landing behind the crowd, the old man casually walk to the edge, the crowd quieting and giving way as they noticed his presence. Walking up to the edge of the barrier that seemed to be roughly a little less than a quarter of a mile in a circle around Naruto's apartment, Sarutobi saw the one responsible for this mess surprisingly arguing with one of his best shinobi.

"No, Kurenai sensei! I don't care what you have to say! Bring the old man here! I refuse to talk till he is!" Naruto yelled at his teacher from about five feet into the barrier. He seemed to be wearing a long sleeve shirt made of paper bomb tags with as many he had on him.

"Damn it, Naruto, just talk to me! Why are you doing this? What drove you to put real paper bombs in a residential area?!" Kurenai yelled back.

"I made the ass holes get out before I activated the Encampment Jutsu! It's not my fault they're all too retarded to get out of the blast radius! Now where is the old man!"

"I'm here, Naruto." The Hokage said as he walked up beside Kurenai who was about a foot from the edge of the barrier, holding up a hand to stop her from speaking as he did. "I'm here. Now will you tell me why you have done this?"

"Oh, I'll tell you why!" Naruto said in a rage, "I did this to finally get your sorry ass in gear, old man! You sat back and pelted me with excuses! Well, no more!"

"Naruto please, just calm down and tell me what happened." Sarutobi said in his most grandfatherly voice as possible.

"Calm!? You want me to be calm!? After what those bastards did!? Fuck that! And fuck you, Mr. big bad Hokage!" Naruto raged.

Sarutobi was officially shocked. Never had Naruto said anything even remotely like this to him before. Something had hurt the boy. Bad. "Who did what, Naruto?"

Naruto glared death at the Hokage, "I don't know, why don't you ask the sons of bitches that are responsible for this!" He yelled as he pointed to a small group of figures that were just making their way to the barriers edge. Hiashi Hyuga and a group of attendants and guards walked up, bowing in respect to the Hokage.

"Ah, Hokage-sama. I'm glad you're here. I hope we can sort this mess quickly." Hiashi said.

"Hiashi," The Hokage replied as he nodded his head in acknowledgement, "What brings you to this dire situation this morning?"

"Apparently this... boy," Hiashi spat the word out with disgust, "Has kidnapped my daughter. I came here to retrieve her, though it seems like it will be most annoying." The Hyuga clan head stated.

Sarutobi looked at Naruto, "Is this true, Naruto?"

"No! She came to me for help! I'm protecting Hinata from all the damned Hyuga! If you want to accuse someone of something, look at the douche bag next to you! I bet it was him that did it!" Naruto yelled.

"Did what, Naruto?" The aging Hokage asked.

Naruto looked down, in doing so covering his eyes with his hair. Sarutobi saw that Naruto started to shake visibly. His eyes widened in shock as he saw tears hit the ground. Naruto then looked up, tears falling freely and wearing a glare that made the old Hokage flinch, and said with a pain filled but quiet voice, "She was violated last night, jiji. Poor, sweet, innocent Hinata-chan... was raped. All because you left her in that evil filled clan compound. Because you didn't do anything. No one deserves to have that happen to them, but she did least of all!" Naruto's voice rising once more, "Well I won't stand for it! Not anymore! You said that I couldn't do anything?! That I'd be punished if I interfered!? Well I don't give a damn anymore! Until the perpetrator has been identified and punished for his crimes to the fullest extent of the law, Hinata and I are staying right where we are!"

"Naruto, you can't-" Sarutobi began, but Naruto swiftly cut him off.

"Hell yes we can! I stole more than enough food to last us months! And don't think I'm an idiot, jiji. I know that it's only a matter of time till you find a way to disarm my barrier, so I've hidden a ton of those special grade construction and mining paper bombs all over Konoha! And I have the detonation tags with me! They're set up so I can activate them at any time! Also, if I die they go off as well! So if you think setting off my barrier to save the larger portion of the kami damned village, think again!" Naruto raged.

At this revelation, the entire group of people near enough to hear went still. Kurenai's face paled significantly, "Naruto, no..."

The Hokage's face turned grim, "Naruto, this is a major threat to the village. There is no turning back from this if you continue. Surrender now, and I promise to find the culprit and that both of you will remain ninja's, if you don't..."

"I don't care, jiji." Naruto replied, deadly serious, "Not anymore. This village can rot in hell after all it's done to me and Hinata-chan. All I want now is justice. We stay here until you bring the bastard just that." Naruto finished and turned to go but stopped and turned around. "I have clones watching the entire perimeter of the barrier. Someone gets too close, and I may activate one of the construction bombs as a warning. Like this..." Naruto said, then pulled out a paper tag and surged chakra through it, causing it to glow a deep red. In the same instant, part of the large slope behind the Hokage monument exploded, causing the whole thing to fall into the village. "Don't worry," Naruto began once more before the others could speak, "I had clones there to get civilians out of harm's way. That was merely a demonstration to prove I'm not lying. Find the ass hole, old man." Naruto said and turned from the group of stunned shinobi, "Also," Naruto said over his shoulder, "If you don't find him fast enough, I'm just going to blow the whole village sky fucking high anyway. Then at least I have a chance to kill whoever it was." With that, Naruto shunshined away.

It only took a second for the Hokage to get over his shock at all Naruto had done before he turned on Hiashi. As he started hounding the clan leader for answers and suspects, the old Hokage couldn't help but think in the back of his mind that he had called it. It was going to be a long day indeed.

(At one of the several parks in Konoha)

Danzo sat at a bench that was shaded by a good sized tree at the edge of a large pond. Seemingly just sitting there relaxing, Danzo waited. Things were finally stirring. Stirring enough to bring him out of Root HQ for a time. As he sat, enjoying the early morning sun, one of his agents appeared in the tree near him. She was about five foot six with dark grey eyes, and styled her long black hair in a single pony tail. She was wearing a black skin tight jacket, which easily made her ample bosom stick out even though it would have regardless, it was also cut to reveal her mid-drift, skin tight black pants, shinobi sandals, and a shortened tanto. She also wore a belt that had ink brushes, scrolls, and ink bottles attached to it. Any who saw her would have said she was extremely beautiful if not for her blank face, void of all expression.

"Danzo-sama, it is as you suspected. The Jinchuriki and the main house Hyuga girl are not in the village anymore. Our scout spotted them heading north by northeast. It appears they are heading for Kumo. Your orders, sir?" The agent reported in a manner where only Danzo could hear.

"Continue to have Sai track them. You will be amongst those sent after them, Sei. He is to send reports on their location to you. Your mission is to attain them both alive. But if a situation arises where you cannot and the other hunters will acquire them... kill them." Danzo replied.

"As you command..." Sei replied before disappearing in a swirl of ink.

Danzo sat at the bench a while longer. He had discovered the incident with the Jinchuriki early this morning. Earlier than Hiashi and much more so than Hiruzen. He had put his early lead to good use, scouting and discovering where the now two missing nin (in his book) were headed. Danzo saw this as an unprecedented opportunity. Both were gems that could be used to strengthen Root. The Hyuga girl simply because she was a main house member. If he had her, Root would have a Hyuga clan of its own. One properly trained to counter Hiashi's men. While the girl would be a nice new tool to have, the Jinchuriki was his first priority. Every other great village, and even one of the lesser villages, had Jinchuriki's with better control over their tenants than Konoha. This was a liability Danzo could not overlook. Soon, that liability would not exist.

Danzo smirked ever so slightly as he sensed his long time rival headed his way. Hiashi's agents would have noticed he was in the village proper and alerted their master. He expected and even looked forward to this. He always enjoyed beating Hiashi to the punch.

Hiashi had just gotten away from the Hokage with a flimsy promise to find the culprit. Upon hearing from one of his agents that Danzo was at one of the parks in the village, Hiashi knew immediately something was up, and went to confront the ever persistent pain in his side.

Walking up to Danzo, Hiashi spoke first, "Danzo. What do you know. Tell me." Hiashi demanded.

"What's this, Hiashi? We can't even be civil and keep simple pleasantries such as a greeting on such a beautiful morning as this?"

Hiashi glared at Danzo, "Do not play games with me. You know something about this situation with my daughter and the Jinchuriki. Don't try to deny it."

Danzo smirked, "Oh, I don't deny it in the least. I'm just not telling you what I know." This caused Hiashi to frown while glaring harder at Danzo, "Though I do find a circumstances entertaining. It seems there are things the all seeing eyes of the Hyuga clan miss." Danzo finished with a chuckle.

"Enough patronization. What will it take to get this information from you?" Hiashi said through grit teeth. He hated giving even an inch to the despicable man in front of him, but a main house member, a female at that, was on the line. He could not afford the Byakugan falling into anyone else's hands. Especially Danzo.

"Relax, Hiashi. You will know exactly what is going on when everyone else does. For now though," Danzo said while standing up, "You must excuse me. It seems there is a pressing matter I must attend to." With that, Danzo shunshined away in a swirl of leaves.

"Track him." Hiashi commanded angrily to one of his attendants, who immediately leapt away.

(In the wilderness of the Land of Fire)

Naruto leapt from tree to tree, a clone carrying Hinata bridal style keeping pace with him. As they traveled, a loose circle of fifteen Naruto clones surrounded them widely. The pair had been traveling all morning, but Naruto wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon. Konoha could realize they were gone at any time. They needed to get as far away as possible. He knew the hunters would be sent and that they would be able to track them. Naruto glanced over at Hinata. She was wearing what his clone had found for her the night before- a pair of his dark tan cargo pants that had shrunk too small for him to wear anymore, one of his white tees with the leaf symbol on it from when he was a little kid, and one of his old orange jackets that had been stained completely black from a prank gone wrong involving paint. The jacket was way too big for the little Hyuga, but she seemed to really like it regardless, snuggling into it even as it swallowed her up. Hinata was the key to their escape. Naruto knew they would send Inuzuka hunters after them, but he had ways to cover up their scent. It was the Hyuga hunters Naruto assumed that Konoha would send that would be the problem. Naruto had once asked Hinata on the range of sight the Byakugan gave. She had told him that it was different for each individual, but had related to him that her range of sight was one of the few things that actually made her father proud. She had the second farthest range in the entire clan. She had never said who the other was, but Naruto assumed it was her Father. He bet he wouldn't be one of the hunters, not his pompous ass. So all Naruto had to do was use Hinata to keep an eye on where the hunters were and then go the other way. It would be a piece of cake. At least, that's what Naruto kept repeating in his mind in a vain attempt to fool himself. He knew deep down it would be a hard battle to get away. He just hoped he was strong enough for both himself and Hinata. Shaking his head, Naruto picked up the pace. They needed more distance between them and Konoha.

(At the Hokage's Tower)

The Hokage sat at his desk. He had spent the morning frantically trying to organize a search for the bombs Naruto had hidden, keeping the mobs from rioting and trying to kill Naruto, which would cause all of them to explode, negotiate with the young blond, and generally keep himself from having a heart attack. Now, though, he was trying his best to calm the very pissed off kunoichi so she didn't try and kill a certain clan head.

Kurenai slammed her desk on the Hokage's desk, "Hokage-sama! You aren't really going to let that dirt bag Hiashi lead the search for Hinata's assailant are you!? You know he can't be trusted! Give the order! Let me find whoever it was! I'll be able to do it within an hour! Less if you let me have Anko help!" Kurenai yelled in rage, giving off a great deal of killing intent. She had been this way since Naruto had revealed the poor Hyuga girl's situation that morning.

"Kurenai, calm down. Tensions are high enough with the Hyuga clan as it is. We have to make sure-" Hiruzen started in a vain attempt to quiet the woman down.

"You want me to be calm?! Some kami damned motherfucking ass hole raped Hinata! I'm going to find the bastard and rip his balls off then make him eat them! Now either give me permission to, try and stop me, or get out of my way!" The irate Kunoichi roared.

Sarutobi was about to say something when there was a rapid knock at the door, followed quickly by the Hokage's out of breath secretary, "Sorry to interrupt, Hokage-sama but there is-" The woman began but was cut off as Hiashi forced his way into the room, followed quickly by Neji.

"That's ok, Shito. You can go." The Hokage said. The secretary quickly bowed and left. "What is so urgent that you must barge in so rudely?" Hiruzen asked, irritation starting to seep into his voice, "Did you find the assailant?"

"No, but I believe my Nephew has something you need to hear." Hiashi replied coolly, then nodded to Neji.

Neji took a step forward, bowed, then began to speak, "Hokage-sama, I was brought here to inform you that this morning while my team and I were on our way back from the C rank mission we were on, I was scouting to ensure that we weren't ambushed. While scouting, I saw my cousin, Hinata, with a boy I did not recognize heading north. I assumed it was nothing more than a special training session or perhaps a mission given to them by their Jounin instructor. But I tracked them for some time and never saw another shinobi come in contact with them. Another oddity I noted was that neither of them were wearing their forehead protectors, and didn't seem to have them on their person at all. I decided to inquire about it when I returned to Konoha. But when I got here, I heard that Hinata was part of some disturbance in the village. I happened to run into Hiashi-sama, who I relayed the information to. He insisted I relate the story to you."

"The description he gave me matches the boy's perfectly. It seems the two of them are running away, Hokage-sama. That, and the situation at the boy's home is nothing more than an elaborate ruse to buy time." Hiashi said.

"Are you sure of what you saw, Neji?" Sarutobi asked, a sick sensation growing in his gut.

"Without a doubt, Hokage-sama. I have the best sight in the entire Hyuga clan and can easily see the same two I saw this morning in the apartment Hiashi-sama pointed out to me." Neji replied confidently.

"Hokage-sama, this is just because of what happened to Hinata! It has to be! They just made a bad decision during a stressful time! Let me go to them! I know I can bring them back!" Kurenai pleaded, fear quickly overcoming her anger. She didn't want to see two that she thought of as younger siblings turned into missing nin.

"Hokage-sama, you know the law regarding shinobi that abandon their village. These two, while young, are shinobi, listed in the village's registry. They are to be hunted, and killed on sight." Hiashi countered.

"You seem rather quick to send men to kill off your daughter, Hiashi." The Hokage countered.

"She abandoned her clan and her village, she is no daughter of mine. Just a liability to the Hyuga clan. And as a liability, I take full responsibility and request to be the one to pick the hunter nin sent after them." Hiashi stated.

"You'd only pick Hyuga's if you were in charge! There's no way I'm going to let that happen!" Kurenai yelled at Hiashi, no longer caring how badly she disrespected him, she then turned to Sarutobi, "Hokage-sama! I request to be a part of the hunter team that goes after them! And special permission to try to bring them back!"

The Hokage paused a long moment, carefully weighing his options. With what Naruto had done, at this point there would be no place for him within the village. The villagers would be harsher than they ever were before or even downright attack him or force him out of the village, Hokage's will or not. Even if that were not the case, village law was clear. If Sarutobi made a special case to let Naruto return, the shinobi of the village would ostracize him. He would never make it on a team, they wouldn't trust him. Hiruzen grew sadder and sadder as his thoughts progressed, but at this point it would be a mercy to end Naruto's life, and if what he had heard of Hinata's home life was true, a mercy to end hers as well. The Hokage had to make the difficult decisions, even if he didn't want to. Steeling himself for what he was about to do, the Third Hokage took in a sharp breath, "Hiashi is right. Village law is clear."

"Hokage-sama, you can't-" Kurenai began to complain but was cut off.

"Enough, Kurenai! I have made my decision." The Hokage replied sharply, perhaps a bit too sharply.

Kurenai looked shocked, not believing what she had just heard. But as reality hit, silent tears began to fall from her face, "Then..." She began quietly but then spoke up, "Then, make me one of the hunters, Hokage-sama. I've trained them both. I know what they will do, how they will think."

"You are too emotionally involved, Kurenai. I cannot accept your request." The Hokage said firmly.

"It's because I'm emotionally involved that I am requesting to go. If anyone has to kill them... it should be me." Kurenai said, tears still falling but even so she stared straight into the eyes of the Hokage. In them he saw determination... and resignation.

The Hokage stared back at her a long time before finally replying, "... very well. But you are not to lead this mission. You are to go for support and to fight if necessary."

Kurenai bowed low, "That is more than I could have hoped for, Hokage-sama."

"Hokage-sama, as much as I appreciate Kurenai-san's knowledge, the Hyuga are all that is needed for this mission." Hiashi said.

"No, you may give me the names of those you wish to be on the squad, but you are not going to be in charge of it, neither is it going to only Hyuga." The Hokage informed Hiashi in a 'this is how it's going to be so deal with it' tone.

"Very well. I request that my two attendants outside, Keita and Yoshiro, as well as Neji here be on the squad." Hiashi answered.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, "Neji? He's only a genin, Hiashi. I cannot agree to that."

"I had planned on putting Neji up for the solitary Chunin exam this week. Only because I believe in a few months he will be ready for the Special Jounin. You have seen his work, Hokage-sama. You know he is more than capable for this mission. Besides, as his eyes have the greatest range out of everyone in the Hyuga clan, myself included, he is not only a good choice for the squad but _the _choice Hyuga. Along with my two attendants, who are my most skilled bodyguards, the three of them are my choices." Hiashi reasoned.

The Hokage considered Hiashi's picks once more. After a long moment, he nodded. "Very well, but they will not be leading this squad either. Your men," The Hokage said to Hiashi then looked at Kurenai, "And you Kurenai have thirty minutes. Be back here by then ready to move out."

(Thirty Minutes Later)

Kurenai looked at the shinobi assembled and frowned. There were way too many for a mission of this level. It seems the civilian council really pushed hard for as many ninja as possible. This was not going to be easy. She looked over at the head Jounin for this mission- Juzo Inuzuka. She knew some of the head of the Inuzuka clan from her friend Hana. After all, what daughter doesn't talk, or rather, complain about their dad to their friends? What she did know was that Juzo held no ill will towards Naruto, but he was fiercely loyal to the village and would hunt the kid down if ordered. Which he had been. Kurenai knew that Juzo, along with the other two Inuzuka shinobi on the squad, were the best of the best trackers the clan had at the moment. Kurenai's gaze wandered till it landed on the three Hyuga on the squad, causing her frown to deepen. She had ways to counter the Inuzuka, but the Hyuga were going to be a problem, their Byakugan immune to practically all Genjutsu. The Kunoichi didn't want to have to resort to her trump card, the drawbacks were immense, but she was prepared to do what she must for her two students, no matter the cost. The three Inuzuka and Hyuga were her biggest worries on the team of assembled hunters, the other three ninja were only two trap specialists and one regular hunter nin who was known for his stamina, and could run for days straight if need be. The size of the squad still made her shake her head. Ten hunters to eliminate two fresh genin? Normally only one would be sent for something like this, at most, two. But ten were being sent, herself included, so it was nine shinobi Kurenai plotted against. She just hoped Naruto had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, she was going to need all the help she could get in taking out these hunters.

Kurenai sat through the briefing, only speaking to give her report on Hinata's and Naruto's abilities, which she kept to the bare minimum as much as possible. She listened and watched. Hoping to find weaknesses, tendencies, habits, anything that would give her an edge. When the meeting was finally over and the squad headed out, Kurenai found herself at the back of the pack. As she leapt over the village walls, headed north, she felt a familiar chakra signature. Glancing at her surroundings, she noticed a rock that was slightly out of place in the forest. Grinning, the kunoichi kept heading north, the signature disappearing shortly after she passed the rock. Naruto would know hunters where after them.

(With Naruto and Hinata)

The influx of memory made Naruto and his clone carrying Hinata jump to the forest floor and stop, landing in a small clearing with minimal vegetation.

"W-what is it, N-n-naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as the clone set her down, letting her stretch her legs.

"Konoha has sent hunters after us." Naruto said, a bit breathlessly before making fifty seven clones, a third transforming themselves into Hinata, "Hinata-chan, I need you to hug all the clones that are you please." Hinata's eyes widen in surprise at the news of hunters after them already and she freezes for a second but soon nods at his request, "Count to twenty for each hug. I hope that's enough for your scent to linger. We don't really have enough time for longer hugs." Naruto said with a frown. The blonde then dug out a storage scroll from his pack and began reading its contents as Hinata began hugging the clones. Finding what he was looking for, Naruto summoned out a bag of herbs. Summoning out a boiling pot of water he had prepared while at his apartment the night before, Naruto dumped in half the herbs, _"I really hate wasting half of this just to dampen her scent. But there isn't anything to be done about it."_ The herbs were good for making powerful salves. Naruto also found out that they were good for masking your scent when he was wearing a bunch of the salves during one of the few more recent mob chases. Some Inuzuka had been in it and he had noticed their trouble on finding him. The salves being the only thing different about previous chases, Naruto was able to put two and two together. After the familiar minty, almost non-stink, of the heated herbs began to fill the air, Naruto summoned a towel out and let it soak up most of the water.

Setting the pot down, Naruto strained the towel. "Yeeeeeeeeah, that's hot." He let out through grit teeth as the hot water scalded his hands. After straining it till it was only somewhat damp, Naruto resealed the pot with its contents back into the scroll. Throwing the towel over his shoulder, Naruto shook his hands, the familiar tingling coursing through his hands from his healing ability. Waiting for Hinata to finish hugging her selves, Naruto tried to think of more delay plans. He could reuse this one, but at the expense of more of the herbs. And he was sure it wouldn't be as effective, if at all, a second time around. His clone had seen three Hyuga and what he thought was three Inuzuka. He was almost one hundred percent positive twenty sets of him and a clone carrying Hinata going in all different directions would throw the Hyuga off. And if his little scent trick worked then that would hopefully throw off the Inuzuka shinobi. Then it would all be a matter of chance. The hunters after him would either split into groups of three or two, depending on if they thought it'd be necessary to have both an Inuzuka and a Hyuga per team or not. He was hoping they would decide it would be wiser to have both a Hyuga and Inuzuka in the groups, then there would be only about three. Three chances to pick the right Naruto and Hinata out of twenty. Naruto hoped luck would be on their side.

Naruto then frowned. Kurenai sensei was amongst the hunters after them. That was something he had not anticipated. He thought they would just get as much information out of her on his and Hinata's abilities and then leave her be. Wasn't there some rule about the hunters sent after the target missing nin had to be emotionally distant or disconnected from the target to avoid complications? How had his sensei gotten on the squad? Was she after him to try and bring him and Hinata back? Was she after them to take them out herself cause she felt responsible? Was, if Naruto dare let himself hope, she going to try and help them escape? Kurenai sensei had lied to the Hokage for him back when she first met him, not even knowing who he was really. Was this another one of those cases? Naruto didn't know. A fact he didn't like to admit, even to himself. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Naruto walked over to Hinata, who had finished hugging the clones.

"Here you go Hinata-chan, rub this all over your clothes and hair then drape it over your shoulders, hopefully it'll reduce your scent enough to be like the clones." Naruto explained. Hinata nodded and did as Naruto had asked her. After dispelling the clone that had been carrying her and making a new one and having him pick up Hinata again, Naruto thought of something. "All the Hinata's add a towel to the disguise..." Didn't want the Hyuga to pick out the one odd Hinata. Or did he? "... except you." Naruto finished, pointing to one of the Hinata's that was going in the general direction of Kumo. After all but the one had made the towel a part of their disguise, Naruto said, "Ok, everyone. Scatter." Taking a direction that would take them towards Iwagakure, Naruto and Hinata set out once more. Heading towards Iwa was dicey, Naruto had heard rumors that hostilities between the great shinobi country and Takigakure were escalating. There was talk of war between the two shinobi villages. Enough of it that Naruto knew the rumors weren't far from the truth. Heading into a high tension area with whispers of war in every ear was risky, maybe too risky. But if starting a war was the distraction it took to get away from Konoha, he would. He would do whatever it took to escape.

(With the Hunter Squad)

Sei ran with the hunters under the guise as one of the two trap specialists. In reality she wasn't a specialist, but all Root agents learned how to use a wide variety of traps and with that she could pose as one. Juzo had decided that they would follow their scent till complications arose, then rely more so on the Hyuga. The hunters had been following the scent of the two targets for quite some time now, but they were going in the wrong direction. Sei had received word from Sai a short while ago that the targets had set up a diversion a ways ahead and were now headed towards Iwagakure. Sei had to make sure the two didn't make it that far. The situation with Iwagakure and Takigakure would make her retrieval of the rebels harder. She knew Danzo-sama had stressed that she was to kill them if there was a chance another party was to attain them, but she wanted to acquire them for her master. They would be great tools and weapons in his hands. She wasn't too worried about them getting to Iwagakure before they caught them, the hunters had been steadily gaining on the pair since they had set off, she was more concerned about being able to deal with whichever leaf shinobi ended up following her when they finally reached the diversion and split up into groups. The two the hunters were after had caused quite a stir, Konoha wanted them returned for execution or killed in the process at all costs. So that meant the captain of their squad would split them into three groups of three, keeping the Hyuga and Inuzuka in pairs with a trapper for support, with one group having an extra.

Glancing over at the odd shinobi out in the group, Sei tried to gauge how much of a threat the genjutsu specialist jounin would be in a fight, not for the first time that day. Sei had, of course, received a file on each shinobi on the hunter squad listing their strengths and weaknesses and how to counter or best deal with them in a fight. Kurenai would cause some difficulty if faced, but nothing more than to be expected from a jounin. Still, Sei had always had a decent innate ability to judge how difficult it'd be to fight someone by looking at them, a gut feeling if Root agents were allowed to have them. Sei's gut feeling towards each shinobi matched up pretty closely to what each file said, except for her. When she looked at Kurenai, she felt... nothing. Not the nothingness a person who wasn't a threat had, but something else. Kurenai was somehow beyond detection by Sei's ability, and that sent the Root agent's mental alarms blaring. And if that wasn't bad enough, Sei knew that the jounin was a capable liar. She had noticed that Kurenai was lying during her briefing on their targets. The problem was, she had lied so well that Sei couldn't tell what was a lie and what was the truth. She also knew the other hunters heard nothing but truths. Sei was going to suggest a more in depth look into this "Kurenai Yuhei" when she got back to Danzo-sama if she wasn't forced to take her out this mission. For now though, all Sei had to do was ensure a group headed towards Iwagakure and that she was on it.

(At the edge of the barrier, in Konoha)

"Naruto, We've located and disarmed the construction grade paper bombs. We've disarmed each layer of your barrier all the way here. All you can do now is blow up your apartment. Is it really worth it?" The Hokage asked as he stood outside the door to Naruto's apartment. After hearing a series of locks being disengaged, the door opened to reveal a Naruto clone, who rolled his eyes. "We both know by now that I won't."

Hiruzen looked at the Naruto in front of him a good moment before asking, "Why did you do it, Naruto? Why run away? Why didn't you come to me?"

Naruto glared at the old man in front of him, "Hinata-chan was raped. Did you think I made that up? I know how well you deal with the Hyuga clan. You let them do what they want. Well fuck going to you and all your so called authority!" Naruto yelled, "What happened to Hinata-chan was the last straw! I'm done with Konoha!"

"Hunters will always be after you, Naruto. No matter where you go or what you do, they will chase you." Hiruzen said, sadly.

"And I will kill them. Every last one of them. Send as many as you want, old man. They'll just be going to their grave." Naruto said, rage now in control and fueling his determination.

The third Hokage stared into the eye's of the boy in front of him and was shocked at what he saw. In front of him was not the Naruto Uzumaki that he knew. This was someone different. Someone that had changed. Someone that was dangerous, especially to Konoha.

Someone that had to die.

With his soul crying, Sarutobi instantly drew a kunai and threw it at high speeds at the clone's head. The Hokage left before the pop from the clone even began. He had work to do.

(At the Clearing)

Juzo's partner Makkuro had been ahead of the group the entire hunt, keeping up with the scent. So the entire group followed him when he jumped down to a small clearing and stopped. "Juzo, you smell that?" Makkuro asked.

Juzo took a deep breath in, "It's faint, is it what I think it is?" He replied gruffly.

Makkuro nodded, "The trail splits into..." He took a few more sniffs, "I'd say about twenty trails."

"Right." Juzo said then turned to the rest of the group who was taking a breather while they could, "Neji, you're up. I want you to do a sweep as far as you can see in a circle from this point in all directions. You're looking for our prey, multiple groups of them."

Nodding, Neji forcefully said, "Byakugan!" Then scanned slowly in a three-sixty degree turnabout. "Juzo-taichou, I see twenty groups of the targets headed in all directions. There seems to be more headed to the west, towards Iwagakure and Sunagakure. The only noticeable difference between all the groups is that all but one group's Hinata have towels draped on them." Neji reported.

"That would explain why the girls scent suddenly got so faint." Makkuro spoke up. "Must be using something to cover it."

Juzo nodded in agreement to his partner's assessment, "Which direction is the group that is missing the towel heading?" He asked Neji.

"Kumogakure." He replied.

"Juzo-taichou," Kurenai spoke up, "Naruto knows of Hinata's past with Kumo and their attempt to kidnap her."

"So what are you saying, Kurenai? That the group missing the towel is a decoy?" Juzo asked.

Kurenai hesitated, "As I reported, Naruto is crafty. He might assume that I would have informed the group of hunters after him what I just relayed. If he did, he would know I would never suspect him to head there, for Hinata's sake if nothing else. So my best guess is that he did the ploy with that towel to make us second guess ourselves, maybe to the point to where we would waste time deciding on if it was just a trick or not."

Juzo thought this over a moment before asking, "You said in your briefing that you guessed he'd most likely head to the smaller countries, right? That he didn't really care for the other four great shinobi nations?"

"I did." Kurenai affirmed.

"Ok. I've decided. I'm taking one of the Hyuga and Masu." Indicating to the shinobi know for his endurance, then turned to the only female Inuzuka of the group, "Nonomiya, you've had a lot of missions in Iwa and Taki. I want you to take two others and go in that direction." Thinking about it, Juzo added in, "Take Neji with you. He can keep an eye on all the groups heading to the west. If any of them give any indication that they are the real group, go after them."

"I'll go with Nonomiya. I have contacts in Suna. If it turns out he's actually going in that direction I may be able to get assistance in slowing him down." Sei spoke up.

Juzo nodded, "Alright." Then turned to the last Inuzuka, "Yasuhiko, you take one of the more southeastern scent trails. I trust your judgment." The final Inuzuka nodded.

"Which team am I to be on?" Kurenai asked.

Juzo turned to her, studying her eyes, "Would you be on my team, if you could? Or do you think it's a trick and be on another?"

"I merely want to prevent my student from becoming weapons to other nations. I made it clear in my briefing that I feel responsible for their betrayal and only seek to help in any way I can. You are the captain of this squad, Juzo. I will do as you command." Kurenai said in all seriousness. Sei once more noticed she was lying and was fooling Juzo.

"Alright. I believe you, Kurenai. I want you to go with Nonomiya. If our targets are stupid enough to run into the mess with Iwa and Taki, then your group may need an extra person to deal with unexpected situations." Juzo replied, receiving a nod from Kurenai.

"Let's get our target, people. Hunt a single group, and if it turns out to be only clones, go after another. Hunt them all till we find the real pair. Move out!" Juzo commanded. Shortly after, the three groups jumped away.

_"It seems Kurenai ended up with my squad. This may cause complications..." _Sei thought to herself as the leapt from tree to tree, secretly sending a message to Sai via an ink bird as she did.

_"I saw your clone hidden as a rock near the clearing dispel, so I know you know where we are, Naruto. But which group is the real one? Was that really a trick? Or was that group headed for Kumo you? Would you really decide to go there? Hinata would be nothing more than a breeding farm and blood bank for experiments there! No. I have to believe you wouldn't do that. If that's the case... then the situation between Iwa and Taki would be just the place you would go. If war hasn't broken out, then you could easily start it and use it as a diversion to escape. I know you don't trust me, can't trust me till you're sure I'm here to help, but don't worry. I'll be there soon. You two aren't alone in this. Not by a long shot,"_ Kurenai thought with determination.

(With Naruto and Hinata)

Naruto cursed under his breath, a habit becoming more frequent as time went on. The hunters had made it to the clearing where Naruto had scattered his clones about four hours ago. One of the three groups had even lucked out and picked to chase them. To make matters worse, Kurenai was with them. Naruto still didn't know if she was there to help them or not. On top of that, the hunters were moving faster than they were. They would overtake Naruto and Hinata in a little less than day at the pace they were keeping.

"Hey me, we have a problem." The clone carrying Hinata suddenly spoke up.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"I think Hinata-chan has developed a fever or something. She's pale, sweating a ton, and is burning up." The clone replied.

Naruto grimaced, this was just what he needed. If he stopped to take care of Hinata, that would alert the Hyuga in the group following him that they were the real ones. The groups of hunters were only four hours apart in each direction, so with backtracking it would take about eight hours for them to regroup. If the group after them realized they were the real Naruto and Hinata, would they be able to reach the others for reinforcements quickly enough? Would they even bother for two genin? Naruto didn't know. But if he didn't stop to tend to Hinata, she could be in serious trouble. Naruto grit his teeth, Hinata getting a fever now was the worst possible timing but there was no helping it. It seems he'd have to make his stand earlier than he wanted.

"Go for as long as you think Hinata-chan can handle, then find an easily defensible position and do what you can to lower her fever." Naruto commanded his clone.

The clone nodded grimly, then said a phrase the blond had seen a samurai version of him use in his dreams, "Victory or Death." Before taking off ahead of his real self.

Naruto stopped on a tree branch and stretched. He was up against four highly trained shinobi, one who had trained him and knew his fighting style. All of which probably running on a full night's rest and trained to be able to fight after long runs. While Naruto was used to sleepless nights, and he certainly had plenty of stamina, he had been losing a lot of what little sleep he did get due to worrying about Hinata's situation. He had also been spending a lot more of those sleepless nights training himself into the ground. So all told Naruto was far from peek condition. But he had no choice. He had to fight. Had to make a stand here. Hinata had to have a chance to get away.

**"You know... I could help you." **The Kyuubi suddenly spoke up for the first time since the night prior.

Naruto was mentally silent as he stretched, weighing the Kyuubi's words, _"Why would you willingly help me? Without even a suggestion of something in return?"_

**"Because, kit, if you die, I die. These hunter's aren't here to drag you back to Konoha. They are here to kill you. And even if they were just here to capture you, these are Konoha shinobi. I would help you just to have the satisfaction of killing some of Konoha's ninja and keeping them from getting what they want, as well as weakening Konoha from the loss of you two in the process. All you have to do is ask, kit, and I will give you some of my chakra." **The Kyuubi said in a surprisingly neutral and reasonable tone.

Naruto once more weighed the Kyuubi's words, trying to find deception within them. But he could not. The fox had been silent and withdrawn the moment Naruto had seen Hinata. Naruto really hadn't put two and two together until earlier that morning, when he had time to think while running. The dream, more like vision, that the blond and the Kyuubi had shared was warning Naruto of now. Of the his and Hinata's escape. This was when she had died, and when his other self had gone on a rampage and destroyed Konoha. He knew it, and due to her silence till now Naruto knew the Kyuubi knew too. He knew the Kyuubi would be wary of the same thing happening again, and he had been on guard for any early attempts by her to take control. Even if he thought this was one, Naruto couldn't find a trace of deceit in the Kyuubi's voice. But...

_"No." _Naruto said resolutely.

**"What? Why?" **The Kyuubi asked, perplexed.

_"Because, I'm better than that. If I use your chakra now, your ever corrupting, rage filled, addicting chakra, then I'll always be fighting the temptation to go back to it in a pinch, or even just in general. No. If I'm going to be a shinobi, I'm not going to be some rage filled, chakra pumped berserker who charges into battle always relying on the demon inside me! No, I'm going to be a mother fucking shinobi! Shinobi are level headed, stealthy, and crafty! They only face the enemy in a frontal confrontation if there is no other choice! And since stealth isn't an option against a Hyuga, the other two qualities will just have to do." _Naruto finished, instantly becoming as focused as an archer with an arrow drawn.

**"You'd refuse my power, even if it meant your precious Hyuga whelp would die?" **The Kyuubi asked, anger now seeping into her voice.

This made Naruto go silent for a long moment. But finally, he replied, _"... No. I said I'd do anything to help Hinata escape, and only an idiot would ignore an ocean of chakra like yours. But like hell I'll use it before I'm at death's door itself!" _

**"You wait that long and it may be too late. I can help regulate how much rage fills you, just let me-"**

_"NO! Now wait till I ask for your chakra and shut it!" _Naruto roared in his mind before taking a few breaths to focus once more. He had time to set up traps but that wouldn't mean a thing with a Hyuga on the way. No, the best thing Naruto could do now was rest and gather as much chakra as possible. Sitting down cross legged and putting his two fists together in his lap as he had seen dream versions of himself do, Naruto meditated. Waiting for the battle to come.

**A/N: Chapter 4, hot off the press for your enjoyment. If you made it this far into my *ahem* "lovely" writing, then give yourself 20 experience points. You deserve it. Plenty of action to come in the next chapter. You excited? I am. Well, minus the fact that I have it on good authority that writing action and fight scenes are much harder than just regular writing. And since my regular writing really isn't up to snuff, well... Just bare with me. **

**Anyway! New guessing game time! One that will probably last the next few chapters before I reveal the winner, so guess while you can! So here's the big question: Which village/nation will Naruto and Hinata finally end up in? Happy guessing!**

**And just for the heck of it, another guessing game! This one has a much higher difficulty and the winner won't be revealed till waaaay later, but I'll put it up now to give you guys time to think and scheme and even possibly bribe and/or blackmail me! Here it is: What exactly will I have Naruto do to the Rasengan with his Water element?! Good luck!**

**Till the next chapter. Try not to die, ok?**


	5. Chapter 5: I'm going to kill you!

**Disclaimer: Naruto? Owned by me? Pffft. Interwebs, you silly.**

Chapter 5: I'm going to kill you!

Neji smiled. It seemed the fates were once more with him. He had wanted to go with Juzo, thinking that was the real Naruto. But it turns out the group in front of him was actually the real pair. "Nonomiya-san, we may be after the real traitors."

"What leads you to think this?" She replied.

"The clone carrying her has taken her forward, while the other Naruto has stayed behind, waiting for us. I assume something has made it prevalent for the Naruto not carrying Hinata to buy time, thus I assume we're on the trail of the real pair." Neji replied.

Nonomiya nodded, "Very well, we'll go in as if we're about to engage the real Naruto. We'll use attack plan delta. Any questions?" After a short pause, with no replies, "Good. Let's do this."

_"With attack plan delta, I'll be able to take out Nonomiya and her partner first. Good. She's the biggest threat to my fighting style. The question is if Naruto will take the opportunity to attack me, accept my help, or run. All my actions after the initial strike will rest on that." _Sei thought to herself.

_"Attack plan delta... I'll be at the very back of the line. Will I be able to be fast enough? If I time it right I may be able to take out Nonomiya and her partner. That will leave just two others for me and Naruto to tag team... I have to be fast enough. There is no other option." _Kurenai though resolutely as she followed the other hunters.

(With Naruto)

His breathing was even and deep. His focus and determination- sharp. He may not have been able to go sage mode like he had seen other versions of himself do, but at the very least he had learned that by meditating properly he could replenish his chakra faster. Sitting there waiting, the Kyuubi once more spoke up, **"I know you wanted me to keep quiet, but I figured you'd like to know that the hunters are nearly here."**

_"... Thank you." _Naruto thought as he stood up, ready for anything. _"I'm curious though... how can you tell?"_

**"You may not be a sensor. But I am, in my own way. Remember, my chakra is here waiting for you. All you have to do is say the word..."**

Not even bothering to reply, Naruto jumped down to a clearing in front of him and waited. He had a few ideas on what to do, but he wasn't going to fool himself. This would take every ounce of skill he had, an ungodly amount of luck, and an outrageous amount of shadow clones. Seeing the group of hunters come into sight and coming at him full speed, Naruto readied himself.

(With the Hunter Squad)

"Target sighted. Stick to the plan people." Nonomiya said as the group sprinted towards Naruto. Having already activated her Beast Imitation Jutsu moments prior, her and her nin-ken charged Naruto straight on. Naruto stood there with his hands in the familiar cross sign, waiting for the last minute to make shadow clones. Just as Nonomiya and her partner twisted her arms and was about to shout Gatsuya, Sei inwardly shouted _"Now!"_. Opening a scroll on her hip just enough to reveal an ink version of herself holding a sword and another ink sword beside it, Sei used her Super Beast Imitating Drawing Jutsu, summoning out the two images. Instantly, the root agent sped up from her position and beheaded the Inuzuka shinobi, her ink double doing the same for her nin-ken. After which the two landed in front of Naruto and turned to face Neji and Kurenai. At the same time Sei had attacked, Kurenai had also sped up in an attempt to stop Nonomiya but was just a tad too slow. All she had succeeded in doing was getting several feet in front of Neji. At the bizarre sight of one hunter killing another, Naruto could only gape in astonishment, completely caught off guard. Kurenai and Neji also skid to a halt, looks of shock on their faces.

"What are you doing?! Why are you helping the traitor!" Neji yelled in disbelief.

_"Why is she helping Naruto... She must be after the Kyuubi and Hinata's bloodline!" _Kurenai thought grimly. She was glad that some of the shinobi she would have had to take out were gone. But Sei was apparently stronger than she let on. This was going to be harder than she thought.

"You do not need to know. The two of you will be dead soon enough." Sei said, readying her ink sword.

"Hmph. This are getting out of hand. It's a good thing Hiashi-sama prepared this." Neji said as he pulled out a scroll. Quickly opening it with one hand and biting the thumb of his other, Neji ran his bleeding appendage down it and yelled, "Summoning!" Two puffs of smoke appeared and soon revealed the other two Hyuga that were a part of the hunter squad. "Sei is aiding the traitor. It is up to us to ensure he and Hinata do not get away." Neji said, bringing the two up to speed, which immediately took a fighting stance.

Sei's eyes narrowed. _"This is not good."_

_"Shit! That bastard Hiashi!" _Kurenai cursed to herself before yelling, "Run, Naruto! I'll take care of this!" Naruto, who had still been trying to get over his shock of the whole situation, quickly responded to his former sensei's words, turned, and jumped away. Sei, knowing Sai was still tracking the Jinchuriki, didn't attempt to stop him. It would be easier to take out hindrances without his interference.

Neji raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing Kurenai-san? Helping the traitor as well? I guess I should have expected it though, you were my pathetic cousin's teacher."

"Neji-sama, we will take care of these two. Continue on and ensure the liability does not get away." Yoshiro said.

"Sama?" Kurenai questioned the honorific.

"If I successfully complete this mission, I will be raised to the main branch family and be named heir to the clan. But I knew this would happen. It was always my fate to make it to the top, as I am both a genius and have the strongest Hyuga Blood in me since the formation of our clan!" Neji declared, "Now if you excuse me I have some traitors to kill."

Neji then leapt high over Kurenai and Sei after Naruto. At the same time, Yoshiro and Kieta charged the two Kunoichi. Kurenai was about to jump to intercept Neji but was cut off by Yoshiro. She barely had enough time to pull a kunai out and begin blocking and evading his oncoming onslaught. Sei was similarly stopped by Keita. Sei's ink imitation of herself, however, leapt at Neji. Even though the ink rendition of Sei moved so fast she appeared to be nothing more than a blur as she swung her sword to cleave Neji in two, Neji was able to parry her sword with one hand and cause her to disperse in a spurt of ink with the other.

"Damn it!" Kurenai yelled aloud as Neji ran off after Naruto and out of view. _"I don't have time to deal with Hiashi's lackeys!" _Jumping away from Yoshiro and keeping him at bay with a salvo of shuriken, the genjutsu mistress of Konoha blazed through handsigns and then yelled, "Demonic Illusion! False Surroundings Jutsu!" As she did, Yoshiro soon found himself standing on a small pillar which was situated in the middle of a decent sized pool of lava.

Feeling the heat from the lava, Yoshiro smiled, "Genjutsu? Against a Hyuga? You must really be as pathetic as Neji-sama said. Everyone knows that our mighty Byakugan can see through any and all Genjutsu." He said with a smirk as he took a step forward, knowing full well that there was nothing more than the forest floor there. He made his first step confidently, then cried out in shock as his foot went through where his Byakugan was telling him was the forest floor. Stumbling towards the pool of lava, the Hyuga quickly pushed off with his other foot and leapt. As Yoshiro cleared the pool of lava beneath him, a spout of steam erupted from the pool, burning him badly and catching his clothes aflame. He screamed aloud in pain as he hit the forest floor and started to roll in an attempt to put out the fire. Kurenai didn't waste time, however, and ran over to his writhing body and kicked him into the pool. His screams lasted only a second more before his body was consumed by boiling mass.

As Kurenai was dispatching her opponent, Sei was busy trying to land a hit on Keita to no avail.

Though the same could be said for the Hyuga. The two flew through a flurry of attempted jabs, slashes, and stabs at high speeds, the two equally matched in speed and finesse. Realizing the battle was quickly digressing into a stalemate, Sei put some space between herself and her opponent before once more opening the scroll on her hip. Revealing five more ink versions of herself, Sei executed another Super Beast Imitating Drawing Jutsu. Seeing the odds of his victory drop as Sei summoned assistance, Keita charged towards his foe in an attempt to get a hit in while she was busy with her jutsu. Sei was quicker, however, and once more fell into their dangerous dance. However this time her ink imitations of herself joined in a second later. It wasn't long before Keita was covered in slashes and lying on the ground, his head a few feet away.

Both battles ending in a short minute, the two kunoichi's turned and faced each other. "Who are you working for?" Kurenai questioned as they faced off.

"You don't need to know. After all, you'll be dead soon." Sei replied evenly. As she did, the root agent noticed the new addition of a pool of lava with a pillar in the middle of it in the middle of the forest.

"That is certainly an interesting trick, being able to make Genjutsu affect reality. I was under the impression only the extinct Kurama clan was able to do such," Sei said as her ink imitations began to slowly surround Kurenai, "I'll have to take your body back with me as well, that ability would be most useful."

"You'd have to be able to kill me first." Kurenai shot back as she began to make handsigns.

As soon as she did, Sei and her art sped forward and beheaded the Jounin, only to have her fade out of existence. _"Genjutsu..." _Sei thought to herself as her ink copies surrounded the root agent and she scanned the forest. As Sei searched for her target, a very eerily detached voice sounded throughout the forest from seemingly everywhere, "Demonic Illusion... Hells Possession Jutsu..." As soon as it did, all the trees in the immediate area suddenly began to shake and grow, making the area become dark as the sun was blotted out. As the trees enlarged, their bark grew darker and knots began to form all over the surface of all the trees. Soon the knots grew and formed evil looking faces with jagged teeth. Within seconds, Sei was surrounded by trees shaking and staring at her, waiting for her to come within their reach. _"Such power... I knew something was wrong about her. Now how to get out of this situation..." _Sei mentally assessed.

"You have no hope of escape. Surrender and tell me who you are working for and I will let you live." Kurenai ordered as she phased out of nowhere a short way from the tree line.

"You are a fool if you think I would surrender so easily." Sei replied, readying herself to charge in and hopefully take out the red eyed kunoichi in front of her.

"No. You are a fool if you think you can get out of this alive. Even if you were strong enough to somehow kill me, these trees would not revert back to normal. And as soon as you are within their reach they will tear you to shreds. Surrender. It is your only option." Kurenai stated as she crossed her arms.

Sei and her ink copies charged. Kurenai quickly began blocking and dodging all the ink swords trying to take her life. As she did, the tree nearest to the two battling women bent down and began trying to bite Sei and her ink renditions. It easily began taking out Sei's ink copies as they attacked Kurenai. The real Sei saw that she too would fall to the sharp wooden teeth of the jutsu enhanced tree if she didn't escape. She immediately began to leap back but as she did heard, "Demonic Illusion. False Surroundings Jutsu!" Sei knew she was in trouble then. Feeling her legs ensnared, she looked down to see them encased in ice. That same instant, the tree lunged towards her. Acting within a split second, Sei shattered the ice encasing her legs with her sword and jumped back. She had managed to save her life, but the tree had been fast enough to bite off her left arm. Ignoring the pain, Sei jumped back into the center of the clearing, trying to figure out a way to escape.

"For the last time, there is no escape! Give up now or I'll kill you. Naruto is strong but against Neji he'll need help. I can't be wasting my time here." Kurenai demanded.

Even if Sei was going to, she had no time to answer as two giant ink versions of the Benevolent Kings crashed through the trees, opening a hole in the tree's skyline. As soon as the two ink warriors hit the ground and started to hold the trees back, Sai darted into the clearing on a giant ink swallow, grabbed Sei, then weaved between the snapping branches that had gotten past the two giant figures and out into the sky.

As they flew away, Sai saw the condition of Sei's left arm and sighed, "Okaa-san. You really need to be more cautious. What if you had been eliminated? You know we're important tools for Danzo-sama. Your life isn't worth a mission like this."

"I'm sorry..." Sei said as she bandaged herself.

"Do we go after the Jinchuriki and Hyuga?" Sai questioned.

Thinking it over, Sei replied, "No. Kurenai Yuhei will be able to catch up to them as fast as we could and she is too strong for us to take out. We'll have to rely on ink snakes to kill them."

"Understood." Sai said as he prepared several dozen serpentine ink assassins.

(With Kurenai)

_"She got away... No matter, I have more important matters to deal with. I need to go to Naruto's aid!"_ Kurenai thought as she was about to jump in the direction he headed but then paused, _" ... Leaving this mess here would cause a lot of problems... As much as I need to help Naruto, I can't allow immortal demon trees to just sit here waiting to eat anything that moves... I'll just have to trust you're strong enough to hold out till I get there Naruto. I believe in you!" _After determining her course of action, Kurenai quickly dispelled her Genjutsu's with a firm, "Kai!" After which she buckled to her knees. It had been a while since she had used her bloodline. She had forgotten how hard the backlash hit.

(With Naruto)

Naruto speed through the trees, his mind racing. Initially, he had been shocked to see a random hunter nin kill another and then turn to defend him. So shocked he had stood there in front of the sight like an idiot. Luckily, Kurenai sensei had been there to snap him out of it. It hadn't taken long for him to recover once he had started running. A short while ago, he had made and dispersed a shadow clone to inform the copy with Hinata the situation and to tell him to keep moving. He knew his sensei was strong, but he didn't know how strong the others were or if the one who was apparently helping him was even on Kurenai's side. Outnumbered, his sensei may be taken out. That meant he still needed to be alert for enemy attack.

**"One of the hunters is still following us. At the speeds he's moving, he'll overrun us soon." **The Kyuubi said.

Naruto knew she was just trying to gain his trust so that he'd be more receptive to her chakra, but he wasn't going to be fooled. Ignoring her, he continued to leap tree to tree. Since she had said he, that meant it was a Hyuga so a close range battle would be ill advised. Keeping an eye out for a suitable battle ground, Naruto tried to pick up the pace. He wanted at least a little bit of a terrain advantage if he could manage it. That meant the right size trees in the proper amount with the right spacing. He smirked, it looked like all those missions catching Tora would come in handy after all. After another good ten minutes of running, Naruto spotted the perfect place, a clearing with trees in a hexagonal-like formation around it. Stopping just before it, Naruto turned to face the oncoming hunter, catching his breath.

Soon enough, Neji landed in front of him. Naruto was surprised that he didn't attack him right away but rather sized him up. Finishing that, he smirked, "Finally realized that running was pointless? Trying to turn yourself in to avoid death? Well both actions are pointless, you are going to die here today." Neji declared with an evil smile as he took his family's battle stance, "You and that worthless cousin of mine. I'll take both your lives."

Naruto face took on a grim look at the mention of Hinata. She had spoken of her cousin, Neji, before. She never had anything good to say about him, "Hinata-chan isn't worthless! And if you think you're going to get anywhere near her you're wrong. I'm going to defeat you and both me and Hinata-chan will escape!" Naruto then formed the hand sign for his famous jutsu, "_Believe it._" Naruto gritted out angrily before yelling, "Shadow clone jutsu!" After the smoke cleared, Neji saw he was now facing fifty Naruto's.

"Hmph. Quality will always beat quantity. Allow me to demonstrate." Neji said before both he and the clones charged each other. As the Hyuga tore through the clones easily at high speeds, he also dodged various kunai, shuriken, and Liquid Bullet Jutsu's Naruto and about ten clones threw and shot at him from a distance. "This battle is pointless. You're not bad, for only just becoming a genin, but you lack too much in technique, skill, power, and strategy to beat me. Surrender now and I promise to end your life as painlessly as possible."

"Like hell! Shadow clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled before summoning a hundred clones surrounding Neji. Every single one performing handsigns before yelling, "Water Style: Liquid Bullet Jutsu!" As a hundred high speed water bullets raced towards him in every direction, Neji merely smirked before spinning rapidly and yelling, "Kaiten!" Repelling all the attacks with ease.

_"That bastard!"_ Naruto thought angrily before yelling, "Charge him!" As his one hundred clones attacked and Neji began once more easily taking them out, Naruto made another hundred clones. Dispelling one to inform all his current clones of his plans, he and the new clones once more began attacking him long range. "This is pointless!" Neji yelled as he effortlessly weaved about the battlefield dodging long range blows and taking out clones left and right, "You'll grow tired long before I will! I can easily maintain this level of combat for days at a time! Give up!"

Naruto completely ignored the Hyuga and continued to attack. He knew that what he was doing wouldn't take out the Hyuga, his close range combat wasn't enough and Neji could easily dodge or block his ranged attacks, but he wasn't trying to take him out anymore. He was trying to maneuver him into the clearing without letting it seem like he wanted to. He had to catch the Hyuga off guard, something not easy to do with his Byakugan. Making another round of clones, Naruto continued his attack. Slowly, carefully, Naruto managed to move Neji into the clearing. His last clone having been popped just a moment ago, Naruto stood in the middle of the clearing, breathing heavily to make it seem like he was growing weary.

"Your stamina is impressive. I know Shadow Clones take quite of bit of chakra to make. But now it is easy to see that you are nearing your limit. I offer you once more- surrender and you will die painlessly." Neji said with confidence.

"You can take your offer and shove it! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled back before making another hundred clones.

"This game of endless enemies that I can beat without a thought is getting boring. Time for you to die. You are within range of my Divination. Eight Trigrams! Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji yelled as he speed towards Naruto.

_"Shi-" _Naruto barely managed to think as he raised his arms to defend himself from the coming assault. He had planned on having a clone switch out with him so that Neji would be in the center of the clearing, but he hadn't judged just how fast the Hyuga could move if he wanted to. The end result of this blunder was that all of Naruto's tenketsu in both his arms were completely sealed off before the clone finished its replacement jutsu.

"What the-" Neji exclaimed as his target suddenly exploded into a clone of smoke. Right as he did he heard one hundred voices yell, "Water Style: Wild Water Wave!" Seeing dozens of condensed jets of water rush towards him, Neji quickly enacted a Kaiten. As he spun, he saw with his Byakugan that several clones, instead of aiming at him, blasted through the trees surrounding the clearing instead. Once they fell, the trees effectively trapped the Hyuga within the clearing. Continuing to use Kaiten to repel the ever blasting streams of water, the Hyuga could do nothing as another tree fell into his prison and right on top of him. Naruto's clones had to stop attacking Neji at the last second so that they wouldn't destroy the tree falling on him, but that second was all he needed. "Eight Trigrams! Vacuum Palm!" Neji yelled out as he pumped a large amount of chakra into the jutsu, shattering the tree in half so that is harmlessly fell outside his cage. As soon as he had finished that, he heard, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Seeing an impossible amount of Shuriken headed his way from every direction, Neji used another Kaiten. Once that one was finished he looked around to see that all the clones had run off to catch up to the original, who was running away at top speed. He also saw that the trees were covered in kunai with paper bombs attached to them, moments from detonating. "Kaiten!"

(With Naruto)

_"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" _Naruto thought as he tried to work his arms, both of which was hanging limply from his sides, as he ran. He had messed up and now he couldn't perform handsigns. All he had at his disposal was a hundred clones and his wits. He wasn't liking his odds. _"A Hyuga's hits aren't supposed to completely immobilize you! Just shut off your chakra like those times I sparred with Hinata! Then why can't I even feel my arms! Move, damn it!" _Naruto mentally roared, how was he supposed to beat the Hyuga now?

**"I can make your arms work again. All you have to do is ask." **The Kyuubi spoke up, offering assistance.

_"Shut up! I don't care if you can fix them, I said I'd do this on my own and I will!" _Naruto replied angrily.

**"How? You can't perform handsigns and only have a hundred clones at your disposal. Even when you could perform handsigns you were no match for that boy. He is stronger and better than you. Your only hope is my chakra." **The Kyuubi reasoned.

_"You're wrong. Neji may be better and stronger than me, but he's arrogant. That will make him careless. Thus giving me a chance. Even if I can't perform handsigns, I still have one jutsu available to me. I can win this." _Naruto thought resolutely.

**"You are a fool if you think you can beat him with the Rasengan! You just learned how to use that jutsu yesterday, and only with your dominant, right hand! You can't use it otherwise, so no, you have no jutsu left!" **The Kyuubi argued.

_"So? I don't have any choice. I have to force myself to make it. It's only easier to use your hand because it helps to act as a shell. In theory, I should be able to make it from anywhere I can produce chakra. I've been training with Kurenai sensei to be able to hold myself perpendicular to a tree with nothing more than a chopstick at the most hardest points to even produce chakra! I know I can do this." _Naruto shot right back at the skeptical fox.

**"In theory! You haven't done it yet! You remember yesterday's training better than I do! You know full well how many times you made the rasengan incorrectly with the end result of it blowing up and dispelling your clone. You try to make it anywhere on your body you aren't used to and just that will happen! It will blow up! You don't have the chakra control required to pull that off! And besides, even if you did by some miracle manage it, your opponent is too fast! He'd be able to avoid it and just shut off the rest of your tenketsu! Or even just kill you! Don't throw our lives away! Just accept my chakra, with it you'll win easily! Don't be an idiot!" **The Kyuubi reasoned.

_"...You're right. He is faster than me." _Naruto thought after a moment. The Kyuubi breathed a sigh of relief that Naruto was finally seeing sense. _"That just means I'll have to attack only when I know for sure when I can hit him. When he goes in for another Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four palms to finish me off." _Naruto finished.

**"You moron! He'll just avoid your Rasengan, wherever you make it, and just hit you everywhere else! You. Will. Die!"**

Naruto knew what the Kyuubi said was true. But her saying it like that gave him the last piece of the puzzle he needed for his plan. Ignoring her continued arguing for him to use her chakra, Naruto slowed down so his remaining clones would catch up to him. He had to plan this carefully.

(With Neji)

Neji sped through the forest, once more chasing his target. He could see him easily ahead, the pathetic waste of space had slowed down to meet up with his clones. That was a mistake. It gave Neji the opening he needed to catch up. Pushing himself even faster, the Hyuga blazed from tree to tree. He then saw about two thirds of the clones split up and turn around, a third each on his flanks. _"A pincer maneuver is useless. I know which is the original. I'll just go in and end this."_

It was then that Neji saw Naruto and all his clones stop. A third ahead, and a third on each side, all vastly spread out in a somewhat small area. He saw all the copies either readying kunai with paper bombs, stretching out their jaws and rubbing their necks, or readying shuriken. Judging by the spacing and vague formation the blond had his clones in, Neji easily saw his plan. Naruto knew Neji was faster and would eventually catch him, so instead of attempting the risky plan of using his remaining clones to slow the Hyuga down while he escaped he planned to fight in one small area, use the terrain to his advantage, and fight a battle of attrition. Neji smirked. All that spacing that he assumed would give him the advantage would end up being his demise. It just gave him time to get through the spread out clones and take out the real one.

Landing on the forest floor just before the 'trap,' Neji calmly walked towards his enemy. He knew his victory was assured, but his enemy needed to know it as well. "How are those arms feeling, trash?" Neji called out loud enough to be heard as he walked within range of the first few clones. They hesitated, but didn't initiate any attacks. _"Fools" _"How does it feel, to be hit with the attack of one bearing the purest and strongest Hyuga blood?"

"Go to hell you monster! I know what's supposed to happen when you're hit by someone using the gentle fist, and this isn't it!" The real Naruto yelled out in frustration from behind a tree.

Neji grimaced, "You are referring to my cousin, yes? She is weak, useless, and a disgrace. Nothing more than a container or her mother's blood. She wouldn't be alive today, if it weren't for that. No, what you were hit with was the true gentle fist. A culmination of technique and blood so strong, when my chakra hit you, it not only closed off your tenketsu but overloaded your muscles as well, giving you advanced fatigue. You won't be able to move those arms for days."

"Shut up! Hinata-chan isn't useless! And what do you mean she wouldn't be alive otherwise?" Naruto called back, trying to stall.

"Hmph. No female member has ever been able to become the strongest warrior in our clan. There may have been a select few that are exceptional, but none have ever been able to beat our best male members. Since you're going to die, I'll let you in on a little secret. You see, our bloodline is special in the fact that only males can unlock it's full potential, while females are nothing more than keepers of its power. That is the only reason why my useless cousin has been kept around for so long, her descendants have always produced the strongest members in our clan." Neji gloated.

"I call bullshit! There's no way that's true!" Naruto shot back. _"Just a little bit more..."_

"I have no need to prove myself to you. Still," Neji began, mostly to himself but still loud enough to be heard, "It is a shame all my hard work is going to waste. Oh well, at least there is Hanabi..."

As Neji trailed off, every Naruto in the forest went still as they put two and two together. _"Hard work? Hanabi? He's not saying..."_

"I can tell by your faces that you're finally figuring it out. It seems I was right, you do have feelings for her. Don't worry," Neji finished with an evil smile, "I'm going to be sure to kill you now, so you don't have to worry about finding out just how bad in bed she is."

"YOU BASTARD!" "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" "ROT IN HELL!" "EAT THIS YOU SICK FUCK!" "DIEEEEEEEE!" Naruto's clones yelled as they charged towards the Hyuga in a blind rage. The original would have followed suit had the pain caused by slamming his arm against the tree when he turned around to fast in realization not given him enough of a clear head to stop. He was still pissed off beyond all reason, but he couldn't just charge in and die. He had to wait till Neji was vulnerable. It didn't take long for Neji to take out the remaining clones. Once he had, Naruto jumped down to the forest at what he gauged was just out of Neji's divination. Now a crater filled battleground, the two stared at each other.

"How could you? Hinata-chan is your cousin. HOW COULD YOU!?" Naruto questioned angrily. He had tried to keep his anger under control, but the sight of who he now knew was the one who raped Hinata put him over the edge. Naruto heard the Kyuubi in the back of his mind commanding, arguing, and pleading him to run. But he quickly zoned her out. He didn't care anymore. Not about controlling his anger. Not about the Kyuubi. The only thing he cared about was seeing Neji dead.

"How could I? I merely did what one fated to rule did. I took what I wanted by force." Neji sneered. "And now I'm going to take your life. You are within my div-"

Neji took his stance as he once more announced his deadly technique. But Naruto didn't hear him. In order to kill Neji, he knew the one thing he needed more than anything else was concentration. So as everything around him slowed to a crawl, as if it would be his last moments on earth, he forced himself to concentrate. He was angry, and he couldn't stop soon enough or completely enough to enter the calm, sharpness he had been in earlier. So instead, he focused on his anger. It made him think of a fire. After all, the third Hokage had always been going on about the will of fire. Naruto then pictured an intense, enormous blaze in his mind's eye. That blaze and nothing else. He began pouring all his anger, all his emotions, everything, into that blaze. He didn't know why he did this. Instinct? A last minute attempt to save his life? Kami touching him and giving him the knowledge to do so? Naruto didn't know. But as soon as he had poured everything into that flame, all of his anger, fear, anticipation, every thought, worry, and sense of fatigue, Naruto found himself breathing calmly, his heartbeat steady. There was nothing else. Nothing but that flame in the middle of nothingness. But that wasn't quite right, for he was in the middle of that nothingness as well. He felt as though he was a part of that very moment in reality. The pain from his arms was now felt like someone else's pain, the fatigue of many nights with next to no sleep, someone else's fatigue. It was then he really saw Neji coming towards him, blindingly fast but so slow it almost hurt. Even with Neji coming right at him, Naruto didn't feel fear. There was only the blaze and the nothingness. Grabbing the exact amount of chakra he needed, Naruto waited. He had to be sure Neji wouldn't be able to avoid or dodge what he was about to do. Just a few seconds longer. Have to be sure. He has to be in the perfect spot. Now.

As Neji did his final leap towards him, palm reared back to strike, Naruto acted. Instantly he pushed the chakra he had waiting out in front of him and molded it. He felt his body, as if it was someone else's far and distant, immediately get drenched in sweat and drained of energy. The pain he felt erupt in his head and the blood running down his nose were also only vague, distant feelings felt by someone else. Ignoring the possibility that what he was doing was bordering the impossible, Naruto shaped Neji's death in front of him. Not just one Rasengan, but well over two dozen of the spiraling balls. He made them in front of his head, torso, waist, and down to his knees. The spinning orbs were dangerously close to each other. But it was without a doubt that Neji wouldn't be able to touch him.

As Neji sailed towards Naruto, expression changed from one of vicious glee to shock as he saw a wall of spiraling chakra appear in front of his opponent. His expression then changed into one of pain as Naruto surged chakra to his feet to leap directly towards Neji. It was as the two shinobi collided that Neji realized that not all the orbs were spinning the same way. So as Neji's flesh began to grind in several different directions, the force of Naruto's jump sent them both into a tree. Between an aged oak and a wall of Rasengans, Neji's body became nothing more than flying chunks of blood, flesh, and guts. It didn't take more than a second for Naruto to completely destroy the Hyuga. Once he had though, all his Rasengans hit the tree. Naruto instantly realized that, even within the nothingness he had wrapped himself in that had aided him in focusing his concentration, he didn't have the strength of mind to retain the concentration needed to hold over two dozen Rasengans firmly in place so they wouldn't touch each other. All it took was two Rasengans to hit each other, and ultimately disrupt their forms, to set off a chain reaction. Naruto only felt the resulting chakra explosion for a split second before the blast knocked him out.

(Later That Night)

Naruto regained consciousness slowly. As he woke up, the blond took stock of his surroundings and situation. He had a massive migraine. The front of his body was emanating a dull pain-filled throb, but he was sure he could move if he needed to. He could even feel and move his arms, though they were extremely sore. He also noticed that most of his body was covered in bandages that had a minty almost nothing smell, meaning his clone had used the rest of those herbs to make some salves or someone who used the same herbs had cared for him. Either he was with allies, or at the very least someone who wanted him alive. As his hearing slowly came back, he heard the crackling of a fire and the soft rustling of leaves in a wind. So he was still outdoors, another sign that he was amongst allies. He tried to open his eyes, but found that they were also bandaged. Content to act asleep and gather information, Naruto lay there and waited on his hearing to strengthen.

It was then that he heard the Kyuubi speak, **"So you're finally awake then? Good. I prefer thanks sooner rather than later." **The fox said in a rather pissed off manner.

_"What?" _Naruto asked, genuinely confused. His brain still groggy from waking.

**"****_You _****decided to disregard our personal safety and attack in a manner only a moron with a death wish would consider! So I did what any sensible demon fox with a ****_bit_**** of self preservation would do and forced nearly three tails worth of chakra into you to create a shield just in time to save your worthless lump and by extension, me." **She explained in a clearly irritated and angry tone. **"So like I said before- You. Are. Welcome." **She finished, somehow managing to turn the phrase into an string of horrible curses.

The Kyuubi's angry rant was like a splash of ice cold water to Naruto. The memories of his fight with Neji filled his mind quickly. As much as he hated to admit it, the Kyuubi was right. He had gone into the fight with a clear head and focus, but completely lost it to a rage he never knew he had. Even if that rage had pushed him into a realm of focus so strong he pulled off the improbable, he could tell by his throbbing head that it probably wasn't a healthy thing to do. Neji had completely caught him off guard by revealing he had been the one that had raped Hinata. Because of that he nearly killed himself. Mentally beating himself up for losing control, he replied, _"You're right. What I did was stupid, selfish, and nearly got both of us killed. I'm sorry... Thank you... for saving us..."_

There was a long pause before the Kyuubi said anything, **"...Damn straight, I'm right. You do something like that again and, seal or not, I will burst free just so I can kick your ass and kill you myself!" **She roared back, causing Naruto to wince, **"That said... I have to say, what you did... It was impressive."**

Naruto mentally stopped and in the process entered his mindscape. He found that the room had reverted to its swamp filled mindscape, though he was too much in shock at the moment to notice enough to comment. He had been expected to be chewed out more by the fox, not complimented.

**"What you did, by all accounts, should not have been possible. Not by a human with your level of training and skill. But you somehow pulled it off. And I have to say, killing that Hyuga brat like that was absolutely magnificent." **The Kyuubi said with a sadistic smile. **"I have no doubt he felt the most excruciating pain before your charge of death killed him." **She dropped off before finally extending her hand out to her rattled container. **"Kuriku." **She finally finished. Naruto just blinked, trying to process everything that was happening. **"That's my name. After that battle, you earned the right to know."**

Naruto, still somewhat dazed, walked over and shook her hand. "Naruto Uzumaki." He greeted her simply. After releasing her hand, he looked around the dimly lit room, "What happened?"

**"I broke our prior agreement of me limiting my chakra unless you specifically asked for it. So my cage reverted from what you allowed me to change it too." **She explained offhandedly,

**"Definitely worth it to survive..."**

"Don't worry. I don't think I could do that again even if I wanted to." Naruto said as he clutched his head, "My head is still throbbing. Ugh. If you already broke the agreement, why aren't you giving me your chakra to heal me?"

**"Because, even though it saved you, forcing nearly three tails worth of chakra into you instantaneously did quite a bit of harm to you. In a normal situation, your healing, even without my chakra, would have patched you up much faster than the rate you're going now. The burst I gave you has temporarily weakened your body's regenerative abilities as a whole. So giving you any of my chakra in the state your in will only kill you. Your body would break down at an accelerated state, not the opposite that would be the norm." **Kuriku explained.

Naruto frowned, "Will there be any permanent damage? I know my eyes are covered. Should I be worried?"

**"Hmm-no, I don't think you should be. You'll just have to wait till your body processes all of my chakra currently in your system first. Then I should be able to help heal you. You don't have to worry about your eyes. I made sure to shield your head and neck the most during the blast. Your eyes were merely temporarily blinded by the force that hit them. It's been a few hours now so they should already be fine. I guess whoever bandaged you was just being cautious." **The fox explained indifferently.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief before looking back at Kuriku, "Why are you being so helpful?"

**"You earned a bit of my respect, so in turn I show you a little." **She said levelly before smiling in a very evil manner, **"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. I'm still the same little ole me."**

_"Figures..." _Naruto thought to himself before replying, "Would you like everything the way it was before?" The blond asked as he motioned to everywhere vaguely.

**"Same agreement as before?" **Kuriku asked. Naruto nodded with a blank face in reply. **"Pity, I had hoped I had gained a bit of your trust..."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "By breaking an agreement we swore upon?" The young shinobi shook his head before he exerted his will and changed the area to as it was before, "As you said, you're still the same you." Naruto said as he faded from view.

Kuriku just chuckled as he did.

Naruto was sure not to move as he re-entered consciousness. Focusing just a little chakra into his ears, he tried to figure out his situation better. He could still hear the fire. However, on top of that, he could hear someone stirring it up with a stick. He had only messed with this particular skill on and off during his academy days when he was bored. So he was only so-so with the technique. Naruto tried to focus his hearing just a little bit more, to try to hear the breathing of the one stirring the stick, but all he managed to do was increase his migraine.

Naruto was about to try again when the person stirring the stick sighed, then spoke. "Man... I hope boss wakes up soon. I don't know how much longer I'll be around." It was his voice.

"Mmrh..." Naruto grunted out as he started to move and try to sit up. It was more painful than he thought.

"Boss!" The clone said excitedly as he rushed over to the originals side. "Careful!" He said worriedly as he helped Naruto stay upright.

"Water..." The original got out weakly. As the clone went over to his pack to retrieve some, Naruto began to uncover his eyes carefully.

"Boss wait!" The clone said worriedly as he headed back to the original. "Kurenai sensei said to not remove those yet, your eyes could be damaged and taking them off could make them worse!"

Stopping to take a drink of the water his clone offered, Naruto resumed as he explained, "It's ok. Kuriku, I mean, the Kyuubi said my eyes are fine." The clone just sat there uneasily as Naruto finished unwrapping his eyes. His eyes adjusted slowly, even with him blinking constantly. But eventually they more or less focused as good as they were going to. Naruto then noticed that the bandages were covered in blood except for two circles where his eyes were. He guessed the resulting blast from his Rasengan wall must have blasted away some of his skin, even with the Kyuubi's chakra. Looking over to his clone, he saw that the copy was exhausted. He could tell right away it was the one he had sent off with Hinata.

"How are you feeling, boss?" The clone asked worriedly.

"I'll be ok. It's just going to take a little bit longer to heal than normal. Is Hinata-chan ok?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"She's going to be fine. Kurenai sensei was able to heal her." The clone relayed before hesitating, "Do you think you're well enough to watch the surrounding area boss? I can stick around if you aren't, but I'm practically useless as I am now. I'll run out of chakra soon."

"I'll be fine. And it'll be faster to get the whole picture if you just disperse." Naruto replied.

Nodding, the clone popped. Instantly Naruto regretted that course of action as his head felt like a hammer had just hit it. Clutching his head in pain, Naruto received all his clones memories. He saw how his clone decided to hide Hinata and double back to check on things after his battle with Neji. How he met Kurenai, who had found the original first, and helped her bandage him up before leading his sensei to Hinata, who she took care of. How she stopped several ink animals from killing both himself and Hinata. And how she was currently out scouting the area for potential threats. From his clones memories, he already knew what was all in the camp and where it was located, but he still stood up and double checked everything. Hinata was still wrapped up in her sleeping bag resting, now on the downside of her fever. There was a fire in the center of camp with some water in a pot nearby to be boiled if needed. His own pack was near the sleeping bag he had been laying on. As the blond moved about, he constantly winced or flinched at the pain that racked his body with every movement. Naruto had been through some pretty bad beatings, but he couldn't remember a time where he was hurt as he was now.

**"I'd be careful if I was you," **Kuriku said suddenly, **"You have six broken ribs, a minor concussion, and your left shin is fractured. Moving about a lot could cause your injuries to worsen." **The fox said seriously before there was a pause, **"If you want, you could always come back inside. I'd make you forget ****_all _****about those hurts of yours."**

Naruto just shook his head at the Kyuubi's sudden offer. She never seemed to give up. She should've known he would always say no. Naruto checked on Hinata to be sure she was still ok before he made his way over to a log, sat on the ground, and leaned against it. His arms were still feeling the effects of Neji's attack; he doubted he could channel chakra through them if he wanted to. Even though he doubted he could do anything if an enemy found them now, Naruto dug out a kunai and hid it behind him. _"What now? We somehow managed to escape. But what do we do now? Where do we go? Go to another village and hope they take us in? Hope they treat us better than our own village? Quit being ninja and try to learn a different trade? Be on the run from hunters the rest of our lives? ...no. No, I won't live like that. I won't force Hinata-chan to live like that either. We have to find a way to get them to stop sending hunters after us. Faking our deaths will only stall them for so long, someone will eventually find out and once the cat is out of the bag Konoha will find out as well... Then what?"_

Naruto grimaced as he looked up into the night sky and pondered. He needed a find somewhere. Somewhere out of Konoha's reach that would be his and Hinata's safe haven. He decided to try to tackle the problem as logically as possible. _"Someplace Konoha can't touch, for one reason or another... The other four great villages, and the few smaller villages and countries too rich or important for Konoha to consider angering. That narrows it down. Hmmm... the same thing could be said about the smaller villages and countries though. They may not want to harbor wanted criminals if it meant angering Konoha. So that leaves the four great villages... and maybe Taki. They're big and have enough ambition to stand up to Konoha. Suna, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, and Taki... Which one? Kumo is out, I'd never take Hinata there. Iwa and Taki are at each other throats. They'll both be looking for mercenaries to bolster their forces. From what I've heard of Iwa and how they feel towards Jinchuriki, though, that'd be the worst place for me to go. So no Iwa... Taki, Kiri, or Suna? Hmm... Suna is an ally to Konoha. We try going there and they'll turn us in without a doubt. So it's down to the soon to be war torn Taki or Kiri, who is in the middle of a civil war..."_

Naruto sighed. He didn't like his choices at all. Maybe he would take another look at the smaller villages and countries after all. After all, he didn't have to decide right away. He could gather more information as he and Hinata traveled. Naruto didn't even have time to be surprised as Kurenai landed in the camp a few feet away. Not even bothering to try and pull his kunai, he asked the question his clone and her had agreed upon earlier, "Why does a bird fly?"

Kurenai didn't waste any time in answering, "To live. To survive."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as Kurenai smiled, "It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

"In pain." Naruto replied with a grimace.

"With your injuries, I would suspect so. I could gather some of your battle with the Hyuga from your clone, but what exactly happened in the end to cause all that happened to you?" Kurenai asked.

"Ever heard of the Rasengan?" Naruto asked, causing Kurenai's eye to widen. "You know the Rasengan? How?"

"I can't say," Naruto said with the smallest shake of his head, "But that's how I killed Neji. Though in the process two touched and caused an explosion. That wasn't fun. But at least I got the bastard." Naruto said darkly before looking up at his teacher, "He was the one that raped Hinata-chan, sensei."

Kurenai's face became grim at the revelation, "That son of a... thank you Naruto. He deserved whatever you did to him."

"And he certainly got a lot." Naruto replied before relaxing a little, "So what now, sensei? You really didn't have a lot of time to explain everything to my clone. Are you planning to run away with us? Aid us? What?"

Kurenai shook her head, "As much as I'd like to, I can't run away with you, Naruto. I'm only here to help you and Hinata escape."

"But won't just helping us cause you nothing but trouble? What if someone finds out? You'll be branded a traitor and-" Naruto started to reason with Kurenai but was cut off.

"I won't get caught." The red eyed Kunoichi said with determination. "Look, Naruto. I know you've seen a lot of the bad in Konoha, and that's practically all you have seen for most of your life. I don't blame you for leaving. But, even if you don't think so, there is good in Konoha. There may not be as much as there should be, but there is enough I want to fight for it." Naruto looked downcast as Kurenai explained herself. He thought she was scolding him for running away and she was able to pick up on that immediately, "Naruto, I already said I don't blame you for leaving. You have your reasons for going, and I understand that. You just need to understand why I'm staying," Kurenai said as she placed her hands on her stomach, "After all, you should understand better than most that a child needs its father growing up."

Naruto's jaw dropped at this revelation, "You- you're, pregnant?"

"Yes. I just found out recently. I was waiting for the right moment to tell everyone but, with all that's been happening, it never seemed like the right time." Kurenai said with a sad smile.

"Does... does the father know?" Naruto asked, still shocked. He couldn't believe it, Kurenai sensei was having a baby!

She shook her head, "Not yet. But I plan to tell him as soon as I get back."

"I see..." Naruto said, slowly getting over the shock of what his teacher had told him. "Wait a minute! Sensei, if you're pregnant, what are you doing going running around and getting into fights! You could hurt yourself, or the baby! You should have just stayed home!"

Kurenai laughed a little, "And what, leave you to be captured or killed? Taking care of my little brother is just as important as protecting my child. Besides, you don't need to worry about me. I'm not a Jounin for nothing." Kurenai finished with a grin.

Naruto sighed, "Arrogance will get you killed sensei..."

"Trying to turn my lessons against me won't work, you little brat." Kurenai said playfully.

Naruto smiled back in return, but soon looked downcast, "Well there goes one 'what if' plan gone. I had hoped you would be coming with us. If you did, you could help me take care of Hinata, get her to open up quicker after what happened. Now... now I'm afraid she's going to rely solely on me. So much so that she becomes dependant on me for everything. I don't want her crippled socially because I don't know enough to get her well..."

Kurenai looked at her adopted brother for a moment before replying, "I wish I could too, Naruto. Unfortunately, I can't. But I'm not worried." Kurenai said with a smile as Naruto looked up at her, "You seem pretty well studied on the subject as it is. And you care for Hinata more than enough to make up for whatever you lack. I know you'll be able to help her stand on her own two legs again."

"But sensei, what if I do something wrong? What if I make her worse? It'll just be me and her. I won't have anyone I'll be able to rely on for help." Naruto said as he lay bare his insecurities.

Kurenai snorted softly before carefully hugging Naruto, "You'll be fine. You have Hinata. And, even if you don't think you can, you can rely on her. Just like she'll rely on you." She then pulled back enough to look him in the eyes, "But even that won't be enough. The two of you have to find allies. People you can trust. A place you can call home. The world is a big place, but I know you can do it."

Naruto smiled, unshed tears in his eyes, "Thanks, sensei."

**A/N: Whew, finally Chapter 5. Sorry for the long wait. I'm sure y'all don't want to hear my excuses, but oh well. You see, work picked up something fierce in prep for this big inspection that was going to happen. So that kept me busy for a while. Then, I had my wisdom teeth taken out. And while that alone would only normally take you out for about a week tops, while I was on painkillers I managed to get nearly half my left thumb pancaked off by a forklift. So that meant surgery (Which was luckily a success btw, I now have a fully functioning but deformed and scarred left thumb. Woo.), which meant more painkillers. It turns out I am not one of those genius writers that is able to use being high to pull out my true potential. So that kept me from writing. That, and having my left hand in a cast. Typing with only one hand was so slow and torturous that I just gave up. Now, however, my thumb is mostly healed and I have returned! Work is still crazy! Yay! **

**Sorry, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about me by now. As I was saying, Chappie 5! Full of crappy battles galore! What did you think? I can't promise there will be a lot more in the future, seeing as Naruto and Hinata will be keeping as low a profile as possible, but I'll try to squeeze a few in. Also, Kurenai pregnant! Bam! Who saw that coming? What? Her bloodline? Who cares about that! Someone knocked her up! Obviously that's all anyone cares about! I mean, it could have been absolutely anyone! ... Right. Anyway, thanks for sticking around to this point. Hope you enjoyed it. Be that enjoyment be derived from the story itself or laughing at the story for how horrible it is. It's whatevs. I'll try to get another chapter out this month, if not, one will come out next month for sure. Till next time peoples!**


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